The Moscow department of the FAS Russia revealed violations of the law “On Advertising” in the materials of the site “Yandex.Market” in the social networks Instagram and “Vkontakte”, the press service of the department reports.
According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, one of the applicants saw an advertisement from Yandex.Market on Instagram and decided to purchase the advertised goods. When looking at the advertisements, it was difficult to determine which particular product was meant, for example, a watch or a watch strap. The applicant independently found products from the advertisement and discovered that there was no discount for them in the Yandex.Market mobile application.
The second applicant, referred to by the Federal Antimonopoly Service, complained about an advertisement for Yandex.Market on Vkontakte, which offered to buy goods at a discount. When clicking on the hyperlink, the user was redirected to the App Store to install the application, “however, there was no discount on such products, or it was indicated at a lower amount.”
The department passed information on violations to an authorized official of the Moscow OFAS to resolve the issue of initiating a case under Article 14.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation (violation of advertising legislation).
In early June, the owner of the PIK group, Sergei Gordeev, said that Yandex, when creating a long-term rental service, copied the advertising and business model of the PIK-Arenda service. Yandex explained that the coincidence of advertising layouts was natural for the market and pointed out that similar texts and visual elements can be found in advertisements of any company.
.