<Anchor> This is a
friendly economic time. Today (16th), I will be with reporter Kim Hye-min. The Fair Trade Commission recently imposed a huge fine against Google, which was huge?
<Reporter> The
FTC reached a conclusion five years after the investigation began. A fine of 27.4 billion won was imposed, and it is alleged that he violated the Fair Trade Act by abusing his dominant position in the market.
Let me explain in detail what kind of bullying I did with an example. In 2013, Samsung Electronics launched a smart watch.
At this time, Google's operating system was modified to apply the self-developed 'fork OS'. So, about 70 related apps were developed, but they were canceled as Google opposed the 'fragmentation prohibition contract'.
This anti-fragmentation contract is a contract that prohibits the application or development of an OS that is a modified version of Google's OS to all devices sold by mobile device manufacturers.
Since 2011, Google has forced this contract on manufacturers to use only the OS developed by Google.
In this way, the FTC believes that Google has prevented competing OS from entering the market and has strengthened its market dominance in the mobile field.
<Anchor>
Reporter Kim, by the way, the fine of 200 billion won is not a small amount. How was this calculated?
<Reporter>
When the Fair Trade Commission calculates such fines, it is mostly based on sales. Competition is limited in the mobile OS market and the app market.
The Fair Trade Commission calculated the relevant sales based on app market revenues generated in Korea from 2011 to April this year, when there was a violation of the law, and then multiplied it by the levy rate for serious violations to calculate the penalty.
In fact, it is also important that Google strengthened its market dominance with the anti-fragmentation agreement. It is known that Google has not allowed manufacturers to fork OS not only on smartphones and smart watches, but also on smart TVs and speakers.
Android's share in the global smart mobile OS market continues to rise. Excluding Apple, which is installed only on its own devices, Android's share reached 98% in 2019 from 38% in 2010.
<Anchor>
Did you say that Google made a statement right away?
<Reporter>
Google has announced that it will appeal to the court immediately. The reason why the FTC's decision was wrong was also refuted one by one through a press release.
The importance of the Android ecosystem and the competition between Android and Apple were overlooked, and the scope of the corrective order extended to overseas is also against the jurisdiction.
Incidentally, an online event called 'Google for Korea' was held the very next day. At this meeting, I explained how much Google contributed to Korea, but I was suspicious of whether this was against the government's decision.
Of course, it was an event that Google had prepared for a long time and asked to see it purely.
According to what was announced at the event, it provided benefits worth 11.9 trillion won to Korean consumers and 10.5 trillion won to Korean companies annually, and created more than 54,000 jobs using Google products. He also claims to have contributed to it.
However, there was no explanation as to how much revenue Google was making in Korea.
<Anchor> That's
right. Reporter Kim, the FTC investigation into Google is not over. that there are more left
<Reporter>
There are still three more items on Google that the Fair Trade Commission is investigating. One is the allegation that Google forced popular games to be released only on its App Store, which was completed in January of this year and the Fair Trade Commission will decide on sanctions soon.
He is also accused of forcing in-app payments and forcing ad contracts on app developers. It looks like the results of the investigation will come out soon.
In addition, the 'Google Abuse Prevention Act', which I talked about in this corner a while ago, also passed the National Assembly.
All-round pressure is being applied around Google, and in fact, it can be seen as a trend not only in Korea but also around the world.
In October last year, the U.S. federal prosecutor's office filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of abusing its market power in search services.
In June, the European Union began investigating Google's influence in online advertising. A huge wave of change is foretold in the digital ecosystem that has been hardened centering on big tech companies.