The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched a probe into Samsung Electronics over allegations that the South Korean firm paid people to post negative comments online about devices made by its rival HTC.
The company allegedly to have paid students to write negative comments on phones manufactured by Taiwanese company.
The Fair Trade Commission spokesman Sun Lih-chyun was quoted by the AFP as saying that, "The case was set up last week after we received complaints."
According to BBC, Samsung said the unfortunate incident had gone against the company’s fundamental principles and if found guilty in the probe, the company and its local agent may face fines up to £547,000.
Samsung Taiwan posted on its Facebook page that it has ceased all marketing activities including the posting of anonymous articles.
Earlier this year, Taiwanese authorities fined Samsung for an advertisement, which allegedly misled consumers about the camera functions on the company’s Galaxy Y Duos phone.
In February this year, HTC introduced a new Android powered smartphone to reclaim some ground lost to Samsung and Apple.
