South Korean trade watchdog alleges Google abused its position in Android app store

South Korea's antitrust regulator alleged on Wednesday that Alphabet's Google abused its dominant position in the ‌Android app marketplace to hinder competition and will recommend ‌corrective measures and a financial penalty. The Korea Fair Trade Commission's (KFTC) Market Surveillance Bureau found Google's ​alleged abuse of market dominance in the Android app marketplace affected 14.16 trillion won ($9.1 billion) in revenue, the bureau said in a media briefing where it released its examiner's report on the matter. From July 2019 to ‌March 2026, Google's Games/Google ⁠Velocity Program, which it internally called "Project Hug", offered domestic and overseas game developers financial support for using Google ⁠services such as Cloud, Ads and YouTube, provided that they launched games on Google's app store on terms at least as favourable as ​rival app ​marketplaces, the report said.

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