Google has been fined €32 million for anti-competitive practices in South Korea, the company's watchdog said in a press release today.
According to a (draft) translation of the announcement published by the South Korea Fair Trade Commission, Google violated the law by forcing mobile game development companies to publish their work exclusively on the Play Store.
"The Fair Trade Commission...has decided to impose a fine of KRW 42 billion (provisional) and a remedial order for Google's actions that have impeded competition in the application market by preventing mobile game companies from launch competing applications in the market (One Store) games”, reads the translation of the ad.
local competition
According to The Register, OneStore is an app store launched in 2016 by the merger of app stores owned by the three major local telecom operators and an Internet search company called Naver, which is believed to be the most popular search engine. popular in the country .
This would have made it a tough competitor for Google, which then started telling mobile app development vendors that they wouldn't show their products on the store if they also published on OneStore. Google also reportedly told developers that they would help them out of Korea if they signed up for exclusive use.
Google, of course, was not happy with the result. Speaking to the publication, a company spokesperson said: "We compete vigorously with other app marketplaces and are proud of the benefits we bring to developers, including the gaming industry and everyday users through Google Play.
"We have diligently cooperated with the KFTC's investigative and deliberative process for the past five years and believe there have been no violations of the law."
"Google makes substantial investments in developer success, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC's findings. We will carefully review the final written decision once it is shared with us to assess the next course of action."
This is not the first time the tech giant has clashed with the South Korean authorities. Last year, for example, it was found to be in breach of national law that third-party payment gateways must be allowed to be offered as alternative payment methods in app stores.
Via: The Registry (Opens in a new tab)