Korea fines Apple, Google for app policies
Apple and Google were hit with a combined KRW63.7 billion ($47.6 million) in fines for banned activities related to their respective app marketplaces and told to revise their business practices by South Korea’s communications regulator.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) issued a penalty of KRW42.9 billion to Google and KRW20.8 billion to Apple, and informed the companies they must revise external payment policies and resolve other issues.
It stated the companies “engaged in prohibited acts” under rules in its Telecommunications Business Act.
The regulator has been undertaking investigations into various elements of the pair’s app distribution procedures since 2022.
It looked into whether specific payment methods were being imposed, claims of unfair delay on app reviews and, in Apple’s case, “impairing users’ interests”, which is about commission charges.
The KMCC accused both companies of imposing “unreasonable conditions” on developers seeking to use third-party payment methods, which it asserted effectively forced the use of the brands’ in-app systems.
It also argued the companies “unfairly delayed app reviews” despite “predictable review timelines” being “critical” to developer’s businesses.
The KMCC stated app companies were not given “specific reasons when reviews were delayed” and the companies did not clearly respond to individual inquiries for explanations or requests for expected timelines.
It also accused Apple of imposing “discriminatory commissions” on app developers between 2015 and 2023.
The regulator ordered Google and Apple to amend their business procedures by removing restrictions on alternative payment options or app review procedures “and to prevent the recurrence of discrimination between domestic and overseas app developers”.
KMCC chair Kim Jong-cheol said he hopes the “sanctions will serve as a turning point toward substantive changes in market structure that app developers and end users can feel”.
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