TL; PhD
- South Korea passed a bill for Apple and Google App Store payments.
- The bill prohibits Apple and Google from imposing certain payment systems on application developers.
The South Korean Parliament passed a bill that would force Apple and Google to accept alternative payment services in their respective app stores. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Moon Jae-in, and his political party first promoted the law.
According to Korean Yonhap News, The amendment to the Telecommunications Business Law will “prohibit app market operators from compulsory use of certain payment systems for mobile content services.” In other words, Google Play Store and Apple App Store will not be allowed to impose their own payment systems on developers .
The outlet added that the bill also prohibits app stores from “unfairly” delaying the review of mobile content such as apps. App store operators who violate these regulations may be fined up to 3% of their revenue in South Korea. Wall Street Journal Report.
Signs that Apple and Google are coming?
The news comes after Google and Apple have taken up to 30% of their app store sales over the years. The bill passed nearly a year after Google announced plans to force all apps on the Play Store to use its billing service. Apple has also maintained this method for a long time, prohibiting application developers from notifying users of other billing options.
Apple Recently agreed to a settlement Cooperate with American developers to allow them to notify users of other payment methods via email and SMS. Unfortunately, iOS developers still cannot tell users their options in the app.
Needless to say, the bill only applies to South Korea, but this is not the only country that targets commercial practices in app stores.U.S. Senator Propose a bill Earlier this month, this would prohibit Apple and Google from imposing their payment services on developers. Earlier this year, 36 US states and Washington, DC also filed antitrust lawsuits against Google. The lawsuit challenges Google’s dominant position in the Android application store.
Will South Korea’s laws also lead more countries to take action? This remains to be seen. In any case, the European Union forced Google to provide users with browser and search engine choices in 2019, but we have not yet seen similar restrictions in other major markets.
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