Google has been fined nearly $32 million by South Korea for trying to impede the growth of a local rival by abusing its global dominance in the mobile app market.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), South Korea’s antitrust regulator, has challenged Google’s monopoly over the mobile app ecosystem after it blocked the release of mobile video games by the local rival, One Store. The regulator has accused Google of engaging in anti-competitive practices by forcing game developers to release their titles exclusively on Play Store in exchange for in-app promotion and support for overseas product launches. The regulator added Google exercised gatekeeper powers over app developers and abused its dominant position in the app market.
The violations reportedly took place between June 2016 and April 2018.
In response to KFTC’s decision, Google said it did not commit any violations. “Google makes substantial investments in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC’s conclusions,” a Google spokesperson said.
Once the regulator’s written decision is made available, Google will “carefully review” it to assess the company’s next course of action, the spokesperson added.
This is not the first time Google has been fined over antitrust violations in South Korea. In September 2021, the technology giant was slapped with a $177 million penalty for blocking smartphone makers from using operating systems developed by its rivals. Google’s move stifled competition in innovation of new operating systems for smartphones, the KFTC had said.
In January, Google was sued by the US Justice Department and eight states for its monopoly over the digital advertising market. The complaint accused the tech giant of engaging in anti-competitive and exclusionary practices over the past 15 years to neutralise or eliminate ad tech competitors through acquisitions. Google forced publishers and advertisers to use its products, restricting the use of competing services, it highlighted.
In October last year, Google was fined $162 million by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over “one-sided” agreements with smartphone manufacturers that required them to ensure exclusivity of Google’s services such as the Chrome browser. Google also forced app developers to use its in-house billing system to keep commissions flowing, which the CCI termed an “imposition of unfair condition”.
