Google's 30% Commission Enforcement Sparks Domestic IT Industry Concerns Over Google Monopoly

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] On the 29th, Google announced its policy to enforce in-app payments and a 30% payment commission on all apps starting next year, raising concerns among the domestic IT industry and experts who said, "Google's move will result in monopolizing the internet industry ecosystem."

"Google abuses its position to monopolize services... 'Google's world' will be created"

Kim Jaehwan, Policy Director of the Korea Internet Corporations Association (KICA), said in a phone interview that day, "It is regrettable that Google seems to disregard other partners in the internet ecosystem." The Korea Internet Corporations Association includes companies such as Naver and Kakao.

The domestic IT industry points out that the 30% payment commission will allow Google to enhance the price competitiveness of its own services and monopolize the digital content market. For example, in the case of digital content such as movies or webtoons, the business model is based on earning revenue through 'distribution commissions.' The business operators give 60-70% of the revenue to copyright holders, and after paying Google a 30% commission, operators have no choice but to raise user fees to make a profit. Furthermore, the enforcement of in-app payments is criticized as an abuse of Google's dominant position to eliminate other payment methods in the market and create a 'Google's world.'

Director Kim pointed out, "Google's YouTube, music, and video services do not bear commission fees, so they will have a price advantage compared to other operators and will be more advantageous in acquiring users," adding, "A 'vertical integration' situation will arise where Google monopolizes almost all services such as search, video, and e-books."

8 out of 10 experts say Google's in-app payment enforcement is "unfair"

In fact, 8 out of 10 (79%) experts, including domestic internet industry workers and university professors, expressed the opinion that Google's policy is unfair. According to a recent survey conducted by the Korea Internet Information Society targeting 98 IT professors and related institution workers, 32% responded that Google's in-app payment enforcement policy is 'not fair at all,' 29% said 'not fair,' and 18% said 'mostly not fair.'

When asked, "What impact do you think Google's mandatory in-app payment for all content purchases and subscriptions will have on domestic content platform operators?" 92% expected a negative impact. Regarding an appropriate commission rate, 50% chose '5-10%' and 28% answered 'within 5%.'

Experts especially expressed concerns about the 'user damage aspect.' Professor Kim Junghwan of the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting at Pukyong National University criticized, "Google's policy change will accelerate the rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer phenomenon within the ecosystem. The damage to operators' profits will directly link to prices. There is a 100% possibility that the commission fees imposed on content operators will be passed on to users."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.