Samsung Fined for Paid Comments ⇥ qz.com

Adam Pasick, Quartz:

…Samsung executives in Taiwan, HTC’s home country, were still concerned enough that the company’s local marketing agencies hired students in April to write anonymous web comments praising Samsung and disparaging HTC. In response, Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission slapped a T$10 million ($341,300) fine on Samsung on Thursday, along with a smaller fine for two of its marketing agencies.

A pittance, really. Is this a deterrent? Probably not; if Samsung knows it’s going to cost them a few million Taiwan dollars for comments which might be generating sales (only Samsung knows this), it might be worth the cost (and the legal embarrassment).