Fair Trade Commission Catches Google’s Abuse of Power... Who’s Next Target?

Fair Trade Commission Imposes 207.4 Billion KRW Fine
Additional Investigation into App Market Competition Restrictions and Forced In-App Payments

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has uncovered the full extent of Google's Android operating system (OS) abuse case after five years and imposed a fine of 207.4 billion KRW.

The KFTC is additionally investigating three Google cases related to app market competition restrictions, forced in-app payments, and the advertising market, and plans to announce whether sanctions will be imposed and their severity early next year for some of these cases.

The KFTC was able to investigate the Google OS abuse case and impose a large fine thanks largely to the roles of the 'Alpha Team' members?Seo Gtaemo (39), Kim Minjeong (33), and Lee Seju (35)?who devoted themselves to the investigation for half a year, even giving up weekends.

Building on preliminary investigations by their predecessors, they conducted an on-site investigation at Google Korea in June last year, securing materials while wearing KF94 masks for over 10 hours a day for five days straight due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since there was no precedent for such an investigation domestically, they worked closely for four months brainstorming with Professor Choi Jaepil of the Department of Economics at Michigan State University, Professor Han Jonghee of the Department of Economics at Yonsei University, and Cho Seongik, head of economic analysis at the KFTC and former research fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), while also reviewing 30-year-old rulings by U.S. competition authorities to handle the case.

The ICT team still has three Google cases remaining: ▲ app market competition restriction, ▲ forced in-app payment, and ▲ advertising market-related cases.

The case in which Google obstructed domestic game companies from launching services on competing app markets was concluded in January this year, and a review report has been sent.

Currently, Google has filed a lawsuit in court against the KFTC demanding the disclosure of evidence materials. After the lawsuit is resolved, it is expected that a plenary meeting will be held as early as next year to begin deliberations.

The forced in-app payment case, related to Google's mandatory in-app payment for all content and charging a 30% commission on payment amounts, has proceeded up to an on-site investigation last year, and the KFTC is closely monitoring changes in Google's related policies. The KFTC is also examining Google's 'abuse of power' in the digital advertising market.

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