South Korea, Aphabet Inc. fined its own Google company $32 million for squeezing its local competitor using its influence in the mobile app market.
In a statement from the South Korean Fair Trade Commission, Google’s NCSoft Corp, Netmarble Corp. and some small Chinese game companies to publish their new games and their support for these games specifically to the Google Play Store.
In the statement, it was noted that it is vital for these companies to open up to overseas markets that Google makes their games visible by placing their games at the top of the search engine in places where the visibility of these game companies is low.
The commission stated that Google prevented One Store from incorporating new games from 2016, when it started operations in South Korea, to 2018, increasing its revenues up to 1.8 trillion won in this way.
Yu Seong Wook, director-general of the Commission’s Anti-Monopoly Office, said that Google’s activities were separated from normal market activities. “Google’s intention was to take the One Store out of the market, which it saw as a strong competitor.” used the phrases.
Google, which controls 3/4 of the country’s mobile app market, denied these claims.
“Open platforms give developers control over how they distribute their applications. Google invests a significant amount in the success of these developers. Therefore, we do not accept the conclusion of the Trade Commission.” expressions were used.
GOOGLE CHARGED OF UNFAIR COMPETITION
In 2016, the EU accused Google of dominating the market with its Android operating system and violating competition rules. The accusation stemmed from Google offering its own search and various other apps installed on Android devices.
The EU investigation revealed that Google’s contracts with various device manufacturers forced Google search, the Play Store and the Chrome browser to preload, and paid some phone manufacturers if they preloaded Google search.
In 2018, the EU fined Google 4.34 billion euros for abusing market dominance in the Android operating system.
Objecting to the penalty in question, Google initiated legal proceedings. In September, the EU court upheld the EU Commission’s decision that Google violated competition rules in its Android operating system, with a slight reduction in the fine.
The court reduced the commission’s fine of 4 billion 340 million euros to 4 billion 125 million euros, and Google announced that it would appeal the court decision.
Decisions of the EU General Court can be taken to the European Court of Justice for legality review.
OTHER PENALTY OF THE EU TO GOOGLE
In 2018, the EU fined Google 4.34 billion euros for abusing market dominance in the Android operating system. In addition, the EU fined Google 1.49 billion euros in 2019 for abusing market dominance in its advertising service AdSense.
The EU fined Google over 8 billion euros in 2017-2019 filings.
