South Korea has ordered Apple and Google to change their app store practices.
South Korea’s communications regulator has fined both companies and ordered changes to payment options and app review procedures.
Apple and Google face app store fines in South Korea after regulators found violations of the Telecommunications Business Act. Both companies must also change their app store business practices.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) fined Google KRW 42.9 billion ($32 million). Apple faces a penalty of KRW 20.81 billion ($15.6 million).
The commission has conducted fact-finding investigations and on-site inspections of the companies since 2022. Its findings covered payment restrictions, app review delays and differences in how Apple calculated developer commissions.
App store fines bring payment and review changes
The KMCC found that the companies forced users to use their in-app payment systems and prohibited external payments. It also identified a 26 percent commission on third-party payments among the violations.
As a result, the regulator has ordered both companies to accept external payments and revise app review procedures. Apple and Google already allow external payments in the United States and European Union.
The commission also identified app review delays without clear explanations, alongside failures to answer individual inquiries about those delays.
Meanwhile, Apple used different commission calculations for South Korean developers and those based overseas, the regulator found. For domestic developers, Apple calculated its share using purchase prices that included value-added tax. However, it used pre-tax prices when calculating commissions for overseas developers.
Apple must therefore prevent unequal treatment between domestic and overseas app developers, alongside the broader payment and review changes.
