Sungwook Cho: "We Will Strictly Respond to Anti-Competitive Acts by Monopoly Platforms"

Fair Trade Commission Issues Corrective Orders and Imposes Fines on Google for Blocking Entry of Competing OS and Development of New Devices
"Google's Abuse of Market Dominance is an Unprecedented Act That Hinders Innovation"

Chairman Cho Sung-wook of the Korea Fair Trade Commission is announcing the sanctions results on "Google's abuse of market dominant position" at the Government Complex Sejong on the 14th.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Cho Sung-wook, Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), emphasized on the 14th, "Going forward, the Fair Trade Commission will strictly enforce laws without discrimination between domestic and foreign companies against anti-competitive acts carried out by platform operators who have preempted the market to maintain and strengthen their monopolistic position."

On this day, Chairman Cho made the remarks while announcing the sanction results against Google, which forced smart device manufacturers to pre-install the Android OS, at the Government Complex Sejong.

Chairman Cho explained, "Google's actions are unprecedented acts that hinder innovation. After this measure, competition in OS development that can support innovative devices or services is expected to be revitalized. Domestic device manufacturers such as Samsung and LG will be able to freely attempt more diverse innovations without such restrictions, and consumers will be provided with a wider variety of devices and innovative services."

The Fair Trade Commission imposed corrective orders and a fine of 207.4 billion KRW on Google for forcing smart device manufacturers to pre-install the Android OS. Chairman Cho stated, "This case involves Google solidifying its market dominance in the mobile platform sector by blocking the market entry of fork OSs (OSs modified from Google's Android OS), which could have become strong competitors. By prohibiting device manufacturers from installing fork OSs even when launching devices such as smartwatches and smart TVs, Google hindered innovation in the development of OSs for other smart devices, where next-generation platform competition is beginning."

Previously, the Fair Trade Commission conducted three rounds of deliberations since May. Chairman Cho explained, "Google's Android OS started and grew as a model where the source code, equivalent to the software blueprint, was publicly released for anyone to freely use for free, even allowing modifications. As a result, Google rapidly grew to achieve a 72% market share in the mobile OS market just three years after Android's launch in 2011." He continued, "Since securing dominance in the mobile OS market in 2011, Google forced device manufacturers to sign anti-fragmentation agreements (AFA) that prohibited installing fork OSs on any released devices and developing fork OSs themselves, to block the market entry of potential strong competitors. Google applied the AFA not only to smartphones but to all devices, thereby blocking the release of devices with fork OSs in other smart device sectors such as smartwatches and TVs."

Chairman Cho expressed expectations that this sanction case against Google will serve as a milestone for future law enforcement in the platform sector. He emphasized, "Platform operators who have preempted the market may engage in anti-competitive acts such as demanding exclusive dealing to maintain and strengthen their monopolistic position in existing markets or transferring their dominance to other markets. These areas require strengthened market monitoring going forward."

He reiterated the commitment to strict law enforcement against platform companies. Chairman Cho said, "The KFTC's dedicated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) team is currently investigating three cases in addition to this one, including restrictions on competition in application markets, forced in-app payments, and issues related to the advertising market. The investigation into Google's interference with game companies and others to prevent them from launching services on competing app markets was completed in January this year, and a review report has been submitted. Further deliberations will continue."

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