South Korea fined Alphabet’s Google and Apple a combined 63.71 billion won ($47.6 million) on Wednesday for pushing app creators onto their own billing tools and delaying app reviews. The Korea Media and Communications Commission penalized both firms after finding that their payment terms broke local telecommunications law [1]. The regulator ordered Google to pay 42.9 billion won and Apple to pay 20.81 billion won while telling both to let creators add outside payment links inside their apps. These new app store fines mark the first formal enforcement under the country’s 2021 app market legislation [3].
How Korea’s Enforcement Began
South Korea was the first nation in the world to pass legislation curbing app store dominance when its parliament amended the Telecommunications Business Act on September 14, 2021. The revised statute banned app store operators from using their market standing to force digital content makers to use specific payment systems, while also prohibiting unjustified delays during app reviews. Lawmakers wrote the rules so developers could offer alternative checkout systems and avoid mandatory store commissions. South Korea’s media regulator spent years investigating how Google and Apple responded to that statute, tracking how each company modified its developer policies after the 2021 law took effect [1].
The commission began its formal fact-finding inquiry on August 16, 2022. On October 6, 2023, regulators proposed maximum fines of 68.0 billion won, seeking 47.5 billion won from Google alongside 20.5 billion won from Apple before spending another three years finalizing the evidence. The final ruling took 1,118 days. Penalities were confirmed at the agency’s 46th plenary meeting in Gwacheon on October 28, 2026, falling 6.3 percent below that 2023 plan to 63.71 billion won [5].
Market scale explains why regulators intervened. An official agency survey published on April 11, 2025, showed that South Korea’s four app stores logged 8.2 trillion won in total transactions during 2023. South Korean competition probes have reached other tech firms, such as cases where Samsung faces a $15 million fine for throttling Galaxy gaming performance, but this inquiry focused solely on app store billing. Total billings across Korea’s mobile app market shrank 6.4 percent in 2023, yet Apple’s App Store grew 10.1 percent while Google Play billings dropped 10.1 percent [5].
App Store Fines for Forced Billing
Regulators outlined three clear grounds when explaining these app store fines: forcing developers into store billing systems, delaying software reviews without cause, and calculating unequal commissions [3]. Under South Korean rules, Google and Apple offered third-party checkout tools within their mobile catalogs, but they charged a 26 percent fee that sat just four percentage points below their standard 30 percent cut [4]. The companies also stripped subscription tools from apps using outside payments, while Google forbade teams from showing lower prices for outside web checkout and Apple demanded separate application builds for alternative billing, adding friction that discouraged adoption. Both platforms withheld essential billing features [5]. The commission said these restrictions forced creators back to default store billing [1].
Review delays formed the second violation. The commission found that Google and Apple held up software updates without telling creators why reviews had stopped or when they would resume [1]. In an agency survey of 1,200 developers, 36.8 percent on Apple and 26.2 percent on Google said they had faced review delays [5].
That same survey showed that 70.4 percent of developers viewed high fees as their main challenge when selling through app stores. Building a custom payment gateway brings separate processing fees and refund handling costs. Because creators still had to pay a 26 percent store fee on top of those payment gateway costs, third-party options offered no financial relief. The commission ruled that this setup made alternative billing impractical for mobile businesses [5].
Discriminatory Tax on Local Developers
Apple faced an exclusive penalty concerning value-added tax calculations [3]. From July 2015 until January 2023, Apple calculated its 30 percent fee for South Korean software makers on top of consumer prices that already included South Korea’s 10 percent value-added tax (VAT), whereas overseas studios paid fees derived strictly from sales net of local tax. That math raised local developer fees by 10 percent [5]. The KMCC determined that this seven-year disparity violated equal treatment rules under the Telecommunications Business Act [3].
The commission showed the gap with simple math. To illustrate the disparity, consider a 100 won digital purchase before taxes: a foreign creator gave 30 won to Apple, whereas a South Korean creator had to surrender 33 won because the store took a cut of the local tax. That formula produced an effective commission rate that was 10 percent higher for home studios [5].
Apple disagreed with the regulatory ruling and told The Associated Press that it is evaluating legal options under South Korean law [1]. The company argued that its integrated billing safeguards user payments against fraud and unauthorized charges, adding that such consumer protections could weaken when users pay through outside channels. Apple also pointed to its broader role in the local economy, stating that its App Store supported 38.1 trillion won in developer sales last year [5]. The company told Reuters that over 90 percent of those total sales carried no commission whatsoever [3].
App Store Fines in Europe
The South Korean action coincides with parallel regulatory pressure in Europe under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In April 2025, the European Commission in Brussels fined Apple €500 million under the DMA for anti-steering practices that prevented developers from informing users about cheaper purchase options outside the store. Apple appealed the decision, but later collaborated with Brussels to introduce revised European terms that took effect on October 1. Those updated terms lowered Apple’s standard in-app fee to 26 percent and established a 15 percent commission when creators steer users to outside web links for purchases. The European Commission’s actions illustrate how app store fines have become a central enforcement tool across international tech markets [4].
Google faced regulatory enforcement in Brussels three months later. In July, European officials fined Google €890 million, including €430 million specifically for restricting developers on Google Play from directing consumers toward cheaper alternative purchasing paths. Google appealed the fine [4].
Regulatory agencies in Japan and Brazil have also demanded alternative app payment methods and looser store distribution rules [3]. In response, Apple made localized policy changes to accommodate those country-specific requirements. But South Korea remains unique because its current enforcement rests on a focused statute passed specifically for app markets. Instead of relying on general antitrust probes, KMCC officials in Gwacheon used clear statutory bans against payment steering and review stalls [1].
Three Months to Comply
The ruling requires both US tech companies to make meaningful operational adjustments within set deadlines. Google and Apple must formally revise their app market guidelines to permit developers to place links to external payment options inside their applications [1]. The Korea Media and Communications Commission gave both firms one month to submit detailed compliance proposals and three months to execute the required policy reforms [4]. In addition to payment changes, both operators must overhaul their software review procedures to eliminate unannounced evaluation holds [1]. Apple must also establish verifiable internal safeguards to prevent discriminatory commission formulas between local and foreign developers from ever recurring in future billings [3].
Google planned outside payments for December 2026. Executives told commission chair Kim Jong-cheol about the December rollout during an April 1 meeting, but Kim urged Google to adopt an earlier schedule. Under Article 52(5) of the governing act, authorities can halt store operations if deadlines are missed [5].
Both companies told News1 that they complied with South Korean laws and plan to examine the official written ruling before choosing a legal response. The commission reaffirmed that it is ready to defend its penalty in court against any legal challenge. Commission chair Kim said he hopes the sanctions will serve as “a turning point toward substantive changes in market structure that app developers and end users can feel” [5]. For South Korea’s developer community, the coming three months will show whether these app store fines establish genuine competition in mobile app payments.
- ONLINE NEWS Kim, T.-H. (2026, October 28). South Korea fines Google and Apple over unfair app market practices. Tech Xplore. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Charlton, H. (2026, October 28). South Korea rules against Apple over App Store payment rules. MacRumors. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Mendes, M. (2026, October 28). Apple fined $15.5 million as South Korea orders changes to App Store rules. 9to5Mac. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Mealha, Q. (2026, October 28). South Korea fines Google and Apple over app store payment rules. Euronews. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS CTOL Digital. (2026, October 28). South Korea fines Google and Apple 63.71 billion won over app store payment rules. CTOL Digital. [Article Link]
