Korea Communications Media Commission Hears Google and Apple for Nearly 4 Hours; Secretariat Concludes Actions Are Unlawful

The Korea Communications Media Commission attempted to submit and vote on disciplinary agenda items regarding Google and Apple over in-app purchases, but failed to reach a conclusion after only proceeding with the procedures to hear opinions from both companies.

The KCMC held a plenary meeting at 2:00 PM on the 12th at the Government Complex Gwacheon and discussed the "matter regarding corrective measures for telecommunications business act violations by app market operators (Google and Apple)."

Key issues included ▲ Google and Apple forcing app developers to use specific payment methods, ▲ unfairly delaying app reviews, and particularly in Apple's case, ▲ infringing on app developers' profits by charging discriminatory fees.

The Value-Added Telecommunications Market Investigation Division of the KCMC stated that, as a result of investigating suspected unfair practices from August 2022 to April 2023, both Google and Apple were found to have forced in-app purchases on app developers while setting commission fees at 30 percent of sales.

The KCMC added that this practice had not changed even after the amendment of the law in 2021.

In addition, Google and Apple delayed reviews for apps subject to screening without providing specific reasons, and the KCMC investigation revealed that they collected 149.6 billion won from domestic app developers during the investigation period.

Reporting the investigation results on Google and Apple, the Value-Added Telecommunications Market Investigation Division stated its judgment that all of these acts by both companies constitute unlawful violations.

Last month, Google executives visited the KCMC to promise various corrective measures, but after news broke that KCMC sanctions were imminent, Google belatedly announced just a day before the meeting that it would lower commissions to up to 10 percent.

The KCMC judged that "this is difficult to be regarded as voluntary corrective action."

The closed-door process of hearing opinions from both companies lasted for about 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Kim Mi-jung, acting director-general for market investigation and deliberation, stated during a briefing after the plenary meeting, "We judge that we will be able to vote on it in the near future."

The former Korea Communications Commission, the predecessor of the KCMC, had previously notified the imposition of fines amounting to 47.5 billion won on Google and 20.5 billion won on Apple. As the two companies have failed to take proper corrective measures over the past three years, the calculated fine amounts may change during the course of discussions between the secretariat and members.

Meanwhile, member Ryu Shin-hwan applied for recusal prior to today's deliberation, citing a conflict of interest.

Member Ryu stated, "My law firm (Jihyang) is providing legal representation in litigation related to this case," and added, "To secure fairness and objectivity, I submitted a recusal application in advance in accordance with the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act for Public Officials," before leaving the room while the meeting on the agenda was held.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.