South Korea’s Media and Communications Commission fined Apple about 20.8 billion won ($15.5M) and Google 42.9 billion won ($32.1M) on Wednesday for steering local developers into their own billing systems, breaking a 2021 law against app stores mandating payment methods. The regulator said Google and Apple allowed third-party billing but charged a 26% fee on it and withheld some features, leaving developers little choice, and that Apple charged Korean developers more commission than developers abroad from 2015 to January 2023. Both must now let apps link to outside payment options and set a fair fee on third-party billing, and Apple has to drop a rule requiring a separate app for alternative payments. Google said regulators ignored the lower fees and payment options it announced in March.
