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Controversy over Google’s in-app payment ‘Gapjil’ escalates… Controversy over Naver and Kakao’s mixed actions
Input: 2022-07-10 15:12:37
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By Kim Jong-woo, staff reporter kjongwoo@busan.com
Controversy over ‘in-app payment’, which forces ‘internal payment’ in its app market, is expanding from Google and Apple to Naver and Kakao. The picture is the main content of the ‘Google Powerlifting Prevention Act’ (Telecommunication Business Act). Provided by the Korea Communications Commission.
Controversy over ‘in-app payment’, which forces ‘internal payment’ in its app market, is expanding from Google and Apple to Naver and Kakao. In spite of the government’s ‘legislative regulation’, Google and other companies continue to force in-app payments, and the mixed response of Naver and Kakao is also controversial.
Despite the Korean government’s enforcement of the ‘Google Bullying Prevention Act’ (Telecommunication Business Act), Google continues to enforce its in-app payment policy, resulting in resistance from app developers and consumer groups. In particular, Google caused controversy by holding a ‘skill event’ to stop updating KakaoTalk, which provided ‘third-party payment’ (outlink).
As the in-app payment conflict deepens, even the Korea Communications Commission has put pressure on it, but Google is not backing down. The Korea Communications Commission called Google and Kakao on the 7th to hear about the suspension of the KakaoTalk update, but nothing was resolved. There are also criticisms that the regulatory authorities have revealed the limits of their ability to respond to the fact that they have called in the troubled business and only confirmed the difference in position. It is pointed out that regulators, accustomed to solving problems by giving ‘unofficial warnings’ to domestic operators, are showing powerlessness in the face of ‘global dinosaurs’.
Apple announced that it would allow third-party payments for Korean apps, but critics are calling it a trick. In a recent statement from the Citizens’ Council on Consumer Sovereignty, “Apple seems to have established a payment system that respects Korea’s laws and systems, but in reality it is just a trick.” There is a high risk of harm.” The Citizens’ Council for Consumer Sovereignty said, “When using Apple’s ‘third party payment’, the fee is 11~26%, which is the same as that of Google. behavior,” he criticized.
While Google and Apple continue to act as if they are ignoring Korea’s regulatory laws, domestic operators are pursuing different strategies. In the case of Naver, Naver Webtoon and others adopted a strategy to comply by raising prices in line with the fees of the Google App Store. In particular, Naver has raised the price of ‘cookies’, a webtoon gift certificate, in the One Store, a ‘native app store’ that applies a reduced fee unlike the Google App Store.
On the other hand, Kakao is pushing the outlink in direct opposition to Google. There are various interpretations of Kakao’s strategy, but there are also evaluations of a ‘resistance force’ for the move opposite to that of Naver. Consumer groups also gave a positive evaluation, saying, “Only ‘KakaoTalk’ is actively trying to protect consumers by maintaining out-link payment in the app, which is prohibited by Google’s policy.”
By Kim Jong-woo, staff reporter kjongwoo@busan.com
