South Korea fines and monitors Google for Play Store abuse of power

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined Google 42 billion won and is beginning to monitor the company for abuse of power in its Play Store download store. It has thus hindered competition in South Korea.

OneStore

The fine is currently approximately 28.7 million euros. The monitoring means that Google must set up a system internally to ensure that it meets the conditions of the South Korean government, the committee said in a statement. “We intend to thoroughly monitor this measure.”

The committee believes this is necessary because competition in the app distribution market is at stake. “Monopolization of the app market can have a negative effect on the entire mobile ecosystem. Restoring competition in this market is very important. That is why we want to put the brakes on strengthening Google’s monopoly position.”

The reason is that Google required developers to remove their apps from the Play Store when the competing OneStore was released in 2016 if they wanted to be in the OneStore. The OneStore is an initiative of South Korean mobile providers. Another well-known download store from South Korea is the Galaxy Store, which Samsung installs as standard on its phones.