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Apple, Google will need to allow alternative payment options in one key market
June 12, 2025
South Korea’s parliament has passed a bill that will force Apple and Google to accept alternative payment services on their respective app stores. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Moon Jae-in, whose party pushed for the law in the first place.
According to South Korea’sYonhap News, the amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act will “bar app market operators from forcing certain payment systems on mobile content businesses.” In other words, the Google Play Store and Apple App Store won’t be allowed to force their own payment systems on developers.
The outlet adds that the bill also bars app stores from “unfairly” delaying reviews of mobile content like apps. App store operators that fall foul of these rules could be fined up to 3% of their revenue in South Korea, theWall Street Journalreported.
A sign of things to come for Apple and Google?
The news comes after years of Google and Apple taking a cut of up to 30% from sales on their app stores. The passed bill also comes almost a year after Googleannounced plansto force all apps on the Play Store to use its billing service. Apple has long maintained this approach too, barring app developers from informing users of other billing options.
Applerecently agreed to a settlementwith US developers, allowing them to inform users of other payment options via email and text. Unfortunately, iOS developers still can’t inform users of their options within an app itself.
Do you think Apple and Google should allow alternative payment options?
It goes without saying that this bill applies to South Korea only, but this isn’t the only country targeting app store business practices. US senatorsintroduced a billearlier this month that would bar Apple and Google from forcing their own payment services on developers. 36 US states and Washington DC alsofiled an antitrust lawsuitagainst Google earlier this year. The suit challenges Google’s dominance of the Android app store space.
Will South Korea’s law result in more countries taking action too? That remains to be seen. For what it’s worth, the EU forced Google to offer usersa choice of browser and search engineback in 2019, but we’ve yet to see similar clampdowns in other major markets.
Do you think Apple and Google’s app stores should allow alternative payment options? Give us your opinion via the poll above.
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