Media watchdog says Google, Apple violated laws regarding in-app purchases
Korea's media watchdog concluded Wednesday that U.S.-based Google and Apple violated related laws by abusing their dominance in their respective app marketplaces. The level of sanctions will be decided at a later date, the Korea Media Communications Commission (KMCC) said at a regular meeting held in the afternoon. The two U.S. tech companies are accused of bypassing the revision to the…
The Korea Media Communications Commission (KMCC) has concluded that U.S.-based tech giants Google and Apple violated Korean laws regarding in-app purchases through their dominant positions in their respective app marketplaces. The commission, in a regular meeting on Wednesday, stated that the extent of the sanctions would be determined at a later date.
Google and Apple are accused of circumventing the amendments to the telecommunications business act, which took effect in 2021. The amendment aimed to prevent large app market operators from forcing developers to utilize their in-app payment systems exclusively. Following this amendment, both companies permitted customers to purchase apps via third-party payment gateways but imposed a transaction fee of around 26 percent on non-in-app purchases.
This measure was criticized for effectively nullifying the law. In October 2023, the KMCC had previously warned that it would impose the maximum fine possible on the two tech giants but has yet to carry out such a punishment.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
