Consumer Group Files Police Complaint Over Google's Forced In-App Payment Practice

Google Dominates Smartphone App Market with 74% Share... Focused Solely on Revenue
Additional Fees Burden Companies

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] A consumer organization has filed a complaint with the police against Google for enforcing in-app payments.

On the 3rd, the Consumer Sovereignty Council submitted a complaint to the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul, stating that domestic consumers continue to suffer due to Google's insistence on the in-app payment method, accusing Google of violating the Telecommunications Business Act. In-app payment is a method that forces users to pay for paid content only through the app market operator's own internal system, such as Google.

Park Soonjang, Secretary General of the Consumer Sovereignty Council, said, "Although Google holds 74.2% of the domestic smartphone app market, it pursues profits without fulfilling its responsibilities and obligations," adding, "It infringes on communication rights and thoroughly ignores regulations and supervision for Korean consumers."

Google began enforcing the in-app payment policy on the 1st. According to this policy, companies distributing content on Google Play must pay up to 30% of their sales to Google. Regarding this, the organization stated that unlike external payments without additional fees, in-app payments incur an additional fee of 15-30% based on sales volume, which is a burden for companies.

Meanwhile, the organization plans to report Google to the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Fair Trade Act.

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