Google tried to block Korean platform rival One Store Co.’s growth, Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said in an e-mailed statement
outh Korea fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google 42.1 billion won for using its clout in the mobile app market to squeeze out a local rival, the latest sign of intensifying scrutiny on the US tech firm as it seeks to expand overseas.
Google — which controls roughly three-quarters of Korea’s mobile app market — has denied offering benefits to developers who put their apps only on Google Play. Google’s “actions differ from normal marketing activities,” Yu Seong Wook, director general for the commission’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau, said at a briefing. “Google’s intention was to exclude One Store from the market, which it saw as a strong competitor.”
The Korean watchdog disclosed internal memos, documents and e-mails from Google employees, alleging that the US firm saw the entry of One Store as a threat to its Korean sales and proceeded with a strategy to shut out its rival, even while it was aware its practices were anti-competitive.
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