South Korea fines Google and Apple over app store payment rules

South Korea’s communications regulator has found that Google and Apple both violated the country’s Telecommunications Business Act through their app store practices. Google was fined KRW 42.9 billion (about $32 million) and Apple KRW 20.81 billion (about $15.6 million), and both were ordered to change how their stores operate. Engadget reported the decision on Thursday, October 29.¹

The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) says it has run fact-finding investigations and on-site inspections of the two companies since 2022. This is the end of a long process, not a quick one.¹

What the regulator found

The KMCC says both companies broke the rules for the app market sector. Specifically, it cited three practices:¹

• Forcing people to use the companies’ own in-app payment methods.
• Charging a 26 percent commission on third-party payments.
• Prohibiting external payments.

The regulator also found that both companies delayed app reviews without giving a clear reason, and did not respond to individual inquiries about those delays.¹

Apple faced one more finding. The KMCC says Apple calculated its commission differently depending on where a developer is based. For Korean developers, the cut was taken from the purchase price including VAT. For developers outside the country, it was taken from the price before VAT.¹

What changes

Beyond the fines, the KMCC is requiring both companies to accept external payments and to revise their app review procedures. Apple must also stop what the regulator calls “discrimination between domestic and overseas app developers.”¹

External payments are not new territory for either company. Both already allow them in the US and in the European Union.¹

For developers, the practical question is the commission. The KMCC objected to a 26 percent charge on third-party payments, but the reported details do not say what the companies may charge once external payments are accepted. The same goes for deadlines: the report gives no schedule for when the changes must take effect.

Who is affected

The penalties and orders apply to Apple and Google as operators of their app stores in South Korea. Developers who sell through those stores, Korean and foreign alike, are the ones who would see any change in payment options, review handling and commission math. Ordinary app users would feel it only if developers choose to offer outside payment methods.

Our read: The fines are modest next to what these companies earn, so the real weight is in the orders: accept external payments, fix the review process, and stop treating Korean and overseas developers differently on VAT. Watch the details Apple and Google settle on for commissions, because a payment option with a heavy fee attached is a different thing from a payment option that costs the developer less. That is where the fine print will be, and I will be reading it.

Footnotes

1. Engadget, “Apple and Google fined in South Korea over app store violations”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷