South Korea to launch cases against Google over anti-competitive behaviour

South Korean competition watchdog said on Thursday that it would pursue cases against Google over anti-competitive behaviour, South Korea’s news agency Yonhap reported.

The Head of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Joh Sung-wook told a parliamentary panel that following ongoing probes into the tech giant, the agency intends to launch two separate suits.

“The KFTC is currently conducting a probe related to Google’s operating system and another on its app store,” Joh said.

“We will try to wrap up one of the cases by the end of this year.”

The first case will focus on allegations that Google obstructed South Korean smartphone manufacturers from installing rival operating systems on their devices.

The second case centres around Google’s moves to force all gaming apps on its play store use its proprietary billing system and claim a 30 per cent commission on all purchases.

Joh told the South Korean parliament that such behaviour harmed market competition and that Google was capable of such moves only because it had no substantial competition.

The announcement comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google on accusations of illegally propping up its market dominance.

Earlier in the year, Australia also presented draft legislation targeting Google, as well as Facebook, over undue power over the news business market.