Republic of Korea: Announced inquiry into app market operators for violations of the Telecommunications Business Act

On 17 May 2022, the Korean Communications Commission (KCC) initiated a fact-finding check to determine whether Google, Apple and One Store are violating the Telecommunications Business Act. The KCC stated that it received a report from the Korean Publishing Culture Association which indicated that the revised payment policies of the app market operators were unduly enforcing a certain payment method. The KCC's examination will be focused on potential violations of the amended Telecommunications Act, the general conduct of app market operators and application developers and their compliance with the competition law. Finally, the KCC noted that will delete applications that use non-permitted payment methods.