Jo Seung-rae: "Google Allowing 3rd-Party Payments Still Has High Fees... A Trick"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] Jo Seung-rae, the Democratic Party whip of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, recently commented on Google's plan to comply with the amended Telecommunications Business Act, known as the 'Google Gapjil Prevention Act,' stating, "The essence of collecting high commission fees as a toll remains," and added, "It cannot be helped but to call it a trick."

On the 8th, Jo said in a statement on the follow-up plan to the 'Google Gapjil Prevention Act', "Google says it will allow third-party payment systems within apps but will reduce the commission fee by 4 percentage points compared to Google Play payments. It appears to give both developers and users a choice, but in the end, it is telling them to choose between a 30% or 26% commission," criticizing the plan.

He welcomed the move, saying, "Compared to Apple, which is finding ways to evade the law without proposing any measures," but also pointed out that "the plan to charge commissions by requiring 'in-app' payments for non-game content such as webtoons, web novels, and music, which previously guaranteed free payment methods, has not changed."

He also said, “Don’t Be Evil, Google grew up with the motto of not becoming evil,” and evaluated, “Google’s domination of the mobile ecosystem through the app market and imposing a uniform toll is completely uncharacteristic of Google.”

Jo emphasized, "The amended Telecommunications Business Act embodies the hopes of developers and content creators worldwide who desire a fair mobile ecosystem," and stressed, "App market operators such as Google, Apple, and One Store must comply with the law and strive to properly implement the purpose of the amendment."

Furthermore, he urged, “Although it has been almost two months since the law was enacted, Apple has not made any efforts to comply with the law and has remained silent so far," and called on the Korea Communications Commission to strictly and thoroughly enforce the law to ensure a fair mobile ecosystem can be properly realized."

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