South Korea’s antitrust enforcer just lobbed another grenade at Google. The Korea Fair Trade Commission published an examiner’s report on July 1 alleging that the tech giant abused its dominant position in the Android app marketplace, a charge that could result in both corrective orders and a financial penalty.
The KFTC estimates that Google’s conduct negatively impacted roughly 14.16 trillion won, about $9.1 billion, in related app market revenue.
What Google allegedly did
The core accusation centers on Google’s developer incentive programs. Google allegedly structured deals that discouraged app makers and game studios from distributing their products through rival platforms like One Store, a competing app marketplace in South Korea.
This case is distinct from earlier KFTC actions against Google, which focused on different flavors of anti-competitive behavior. In 2021, the commission hit Google with a 207 billion won fine, approximately $177 million, for what it called anti-fragmentation practices. That case was about Google restricting device manufacturers from using modified versions of Android.
