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Republic of Korea: Fair Trade Commission investigation into Google over alleged violations of Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

Progress

Current status
in force
19 Nov 2025 in force
14 Aug 2025 processing consultation
15 Jul 2025 in consultation
22 May 2025 under investigation
14 May 2025 under investigation

Scope

Implementers
Republic of Korea
Policy Area
Competition
Policy Instrument
Unilateral conduct regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
platform intermediary: user-generated content
streaming service provider
Government Branch
executive
Government Body
competition authority
Implementation Level
national

Timeline of events

19 Nov 2025
in force

Fair Trade Commission confirmed final consent decision requiring launch of YouTube Premium Lite, one-year YouTube Premium price freeze, and KRW 300 billion EBS music-industry programme

On 19 November 2025, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) confirmed the final consent decision requiring Google to launch the standalone YouTube Premium Lite subscription with advertising removal, background play, and offline storage. Google is al…

Source
Event type investigation
Action type ruling
Government branch executive
Government body competition authority
14 Aug 2025
processing consultation

Fair Trade Commission closes consultation on Google's interim consent resolution addressing alleged violations of Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

On 14 August 2025, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) closes the consultation on the provisional consent resolution regarding Google's alleged non-compliance with the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. The consent resolution addresses concerns tha…

Source
Event type investigation
Action type consultation closed
Government branch executive
Government body competition authority
15 Jul 2025
in consultation

Fair Trade Commission opened consultation on Google's interim consent resolution addressing alleged violations of Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

On 15 July 2025, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) opened a consultation on the provisional consent resolution regarding Google's alleged non-compliance with the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act until 14 August 2025. The consent resolution…

Source
Event type investigation
Action type consultation opened
Government branch executive
Government body competition authority
22 May 2025
under investigation

Korea Fair Trade Commission initiated consent decision procedure in response to Google’s application concerning alleged violations of Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

On 22 May 2025, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) initiated the consent decision procedure following Google’s application concerning alleged violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. In its proposal, Google offered corrective me…

Source
Event type investigation
Action type interim ruling
Government branch executive
Government body competition authority
14 May 2025
under investigation

Fair Trade Commission reviewed Google’s request for a consent decision concerning its alleged violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

On 14 May 2025, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had reviewed Google’s request for a consent decision regarding its bundling of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium, practices that had been under investigation for potentially …

Source
Event type investigation
Action type interim ruling
Government branch executive
Government body competition authority