Google And Apple Accused Of Harassing App Market Domination In South Korea

On Friday, October 6, South Korea's telecommunications regulator, Korea Communications Commission (KCC), announced that Alphabet Inc's, parent of Google and Apple, had abused their dominant position in the app market. Both face fines that could reach up to 50.5 million US dollars (Rp790 billion).

The KCC stated in a statement that the two tech giants forced app developers to use certain payment methods and led to unfair delays in app reviews.

The KCC is currently informing the two companies to take corrective action, and will consider fines to be imposed.

Google said in a statement to Reuters, "What KCC shared today is a 'early warning' and we will review closely and send our responses. Once the final written decision is shared with us, we will carefully review to evaluate the next steps."

Apple also issued a statement stating, "We do not agree with the conclusions made by KCC in their Examining Report, and we believe the changes we have implemented in the App Store are in accordance with the Telecommunications Business Act. As we always do, we will continue to communicate with KCC to convey our views."

In 2021, South Korea passed an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act that prohibits app store operators from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.

The KCC states that enforcement of certain payment methods by Google and Apple, as well as Apple's "discriminatory payment to domestic app developers", is likely to undermine the law's objectives to promote fair competition.

After listening to the views of these companies, the regulator could decide to impose fines of up to 68 billion won (Rp790 billion), including 47.5 billion won (Rp552.5 billion) for Google and 20.5 billion won (Rp238.6 billion) for Apple, the KCC stated.