Samsung defaming HTC on Taiwanese forums

[squire777]

Fabricated Internet posts praising Samsung at the expense of HTC products has landed the South Korean company in hot water with Taiwan?s Fair Trade Commission.

Taiwan?s FTC said on Tuesday it was investigating the matter, and could punish Samsung for up to NT$25 million (US$835,000) if it is found to be in violation of fair trade rules.

The investigation occurs after a local site, called TaiwanSamsungLeaks, accused the South Korean company of ?evil marketing? for covertly criticizing rival products through anonymous Internet users. As evidence, the site published documents allegedly from Samsung?s hired marketing firm cataloguing the different forum posts it made last year on local gadget sites.

The topics covered included a user complaining that his girlfriend?s HTC One X phone was constantly crashing, and how Samsung?s Galaxy Note phone was superior to HTC?s Sensation XL handset.

Taiwan's FTC investigating Samsung for defaming HTC on local online forums | PCWorld


So apparently Samsung has been caught hiring a firm to post negative messages about HTC products on online forums. Quite a new low for Samsung.

However I do wonder how many companies use tactics like this, even for simple things like negative reviews on Amazon. I'm guessing it's a lot more common than we think.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Closed, since there already is a thread here.

You are welcome to continue your discussion in that thread.