Korea Delays Decision on Penalties Against Google and Apple

South Korea's media regulator has delayed its final decision on penalties against Google and Apple over their in-app payment practices, nearly three years after the sanctions were first proposed.

The Korea Media and Communications Commission found that both companies effectively restricted developers to designated payment methods while charging up to 26 percent commission on third-party billing, just four percentage points below their standard 30 percent rate.

Google was also accused of restricting how different payment options could be presented to users and requiring them to choose a payment method for each purchase. Apple excluded third-party billing from some fee discount programs, meaning developers eligible for a 15 percent rate under Apple's own billing system could still face a 26 percent fee when using an alternative.

The regulator identified over 10,000 cases where Google exceeded its stated review period and 1,658 cases in which Apple took longer than 48 hours without clear explanations or expected timelines. Apple also applied different commission standards to Korean and overseas developers from July 2015 to January 2023, resulting in an estimated 149.6 billion won ($105.7 million) in additional commissions.