According to the latest reports, South Korea’s antitrust regulator said on Wednesday that it has decided to fine the global technology giant Google 207.4 billion won because of its alleged use in mobile operating systems and applications. Abuse of market dominance in the market.
Since 2016, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has been investigating Google, accusing it of obstructing local smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. from using operating systems developed by competitors.
South Korean regulators said that Google requires smartphone manufacturers to sign an anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) when signing key contracts with Google on app store licensing and early access to the operating system, thus hindering market competition.
According to the AFA agreement, device manufacturers are not allowed to install modified versions of the Android operating system called Android forks on their products, and they are not allowed to develop their own Android forks.
South Korean regulators said that this approach helped Google consolidate its dominant position in the mobile platform market and undermined the development and innovation of new operating systems for smart devices.
In addition to fines, the Korea Fair Trade Commission also ordered Google LLC, Google Asia Pacific and Google Korea to take corrective measures. South Korean regulators have ordered Google to prohibit its practice of forcing Android manufacturers to sign the AFA and amend the details of the AFA before reporting to the committee.
We expect that the latest measures will help create conditions for the resumption of competition in the mobile operating system and application market. This is also expected to help launch innovative products and services in the smart device market, KFTC said.
South Korean regulators are also separately investigating three other cases related to Google’s alleged anti-competitive activities. The Korea Fair Trade Commission is investigating whether Google is suspected of forcing mobile game apps to be released only on its Play Store. An investigation into Google’s unfair business practices in digital advertising sales is ongoing. The committee has also been exploring whether Google’s new billing policy has harmed market competition.
Google earlier announced a plan to charge all app developers 30% of the Korean in-app digital content purchase fee. In addition, the National Assembly approved a bill in August that would curb Google and Apple’s dominance of payments to their app stores. This move made South Korea the first country in the world to enact such a law.
