South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has charged Alphabet’s Google with abusing its dominance in the Android apps market, alleging the conduct limited competition and prompted corrective actions that could result in significant penalties.
The Fair Trade Commission said examiner findings indicate Google used a long-running program tied to Android app distribution to steer game developers toward Google Play under terms that were not worse than those offered on competing app marketplaces. Regulators said these arrangements created strong incentives for developers to avoid alternatives and, in practice, reduced developers’ motivation to distribute through rival stores.
According to the regulator, the allegations relate to Google’s Games/Google Velocity Program, which was implemented from July 2019 through March 2026. The program involved financial support for developers in connection with Google services, while requiring developers to launch their games on Google Play under the specified favorable terms. The watchdog said the support increased as revenues grew through Google Play, further encouraging developers to choose Google’s marketplace.
The regulator also noted that it has more than an 80% market share in Korea’s Android app market through Google Play, and that the affected conduct disrupted the ability of rival app marketplaces to compete effectively.
If the watchdog ultimately finds an abuse of market dominance, it can impose a fine of up to 6% of the relevant affected revenue, based on the commission’s estimate that the conduct impacted about 14.16 trillion won (about $9.1 billion). Google has been given time to respond to the examiner report during the commission’s review process.
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