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Indonesia’s security agency KPPU has fined Google 202.5 billion Rupiahs, equivalent to $12.6 million, on Wednesday for violating rules related to its payment services on the Google Play Store.
KPPU ordered the search giant to stop using Google Play’s Mourning in the Google Play Store. It also asked Google to allow all developers to participate in the User Choice Billing (UCB) program. and to give them at least 5% of the penalty fee discount for the year after the decision is finalized, according to his words.
The protest manager launched a search on Google in 2022 due to market dominance – in particular, the company required Indonesian developers to use Google Play Billing (GPB). The agency found that the Google Pay Billing System charged fees up to 30% higher than other payment methods.
Google Play Store handles payments between developers and users through the GPB System for in-app purchases. Google requires all purchases of digital products and services in the Google Play Store to go through the Google Play Billing system. At the same time, it prevents other payment methods from Google Play Billing. The organization said that reducing payment methods leads to fewer users, less sales and less money.
The agency noted that the Google Play Store is the only place pre-installed on all Android devices, with a market share of over 50%. Regarding the search engine market, Google had a market share of 95.16% in the Indonesian search market, with other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex holding the rest as of January 2024, according to Statista.
Google plans to appeal the decision.
“We strongly disagree with the decision of the KPPU and will appeal. “Our current initiatives help make the Indonesian app healthy, competitive, providing a secure platform, global reach, and choice, including user payments – which support other Google Play payment options,” Google spokesperson Danielle Cohen said. in email.
“Beyond our platform, we support Indonesian developers through many channels, including Indie Games Accelerator, Play Academy, and Play x Unity, to showcase our achievements in their success. We are committed to complying with Indonesian laws and will continue to cooperate with the KPPU and stakeholders throughout the appeal,” he added.
The technology industry has been closely watching several legal disputes in which Google has been fined for violating anti-competitive practices for abusing its market power in various countries, including Indonesia, India, South Korea, France, EU and in the US Japan’s antitrust watchdog may find Google has violated Japan’s antitrust laws and order the tech behemoth to stop its practice, according to Nikkei Asia.
