South Korea Slaps Google and Apple With $47.6M Fine for App Practices

WHO:

Fast Company - South Korea’s Korea Media and Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s media and telecommunications regulator, investigated Alphabet’s Google and Apple.

Fast Company - Google and Apple are U.S. technology companies; the KCC identified local South Korean app developers as affected by the companies’ practices.

Engadget - South Korean regulators found that Google and Apple violated the country’s Telecommunications Business Act.

WHAT:

Fast Company - South Korea fined Google and Apple a combined 63.7 billion won ($47.6 million): Google was fined 42.9 billion won ($32 million), and Apple 20.8 billion won ($15.5 million).

ABC News Tech - South Korea fined Google and Apple a combined $47.6 million over app-market practices it said abused their dominance.

Fast Company - The KCC ordered both companies to let South Korean developers use external payment links in apps and to improve app-review procedures.

Fast Company - The KCC said the companies pushed developers toward their own in-app payment systems and barred payments through external websites.

Fast Company - The companies technically allowed third-party payment systems within apps but charged developers a 26% commission and withheld some features available through their own systems, the KCC said.

Fast Company - The KCC said Google and Apple delayed some app reviews without clearly explaining the reasons or when reviews would resume.

Fast Company - The KCC accused Apple of charging South Korean developers higher commissions than developers elsewhere from 2015 to January 2023.

Fast Company - Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

WHERE:

Fast Company - The fines and regulator’s actions concerned app-store practices in South Korea.

Fast Company - The KCC said the affected developers were South Korean developers.

WHY:

Fast Company - The KCC said the companies abused their dominance in app-store markets by steering developers to their own payment systems and unfairly delaying app reviews.

Fast Company - The KCC investigated alleged violations of a 2021 law prohibiting app-store operators from forcing developers to use specific payment systems.

Fast Company - South Korea has scrutinized foreign technology companies’ business practices; Fast Company reported that it became the first country to enforce a law prohibiting app-market operators from requiring use of their own in-app payment systems.

HOW:

Fast Company - The KCC said third-party in-app payment options carried a 26% commission and lacked some features offered through Google’s and Apple’s own systems.

Fast Company - The KCC spent years investigating the companies’ practices.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 12:08 UTC)

South Korea fined Google 42.9 billion won and Apple 20.8 billion won, for a combined 63.7 billion won, after regulators found the companies violated the country’s Telecommunications Business Act. The regulator said they steered developers toward their own in-app payment systems, charged a 26% commission on third-party options, and delayed some app reviews without clear explanations. It ordered both companies to allow external payment links in apps and improve their review procedures.