South Korea passes bill limiting Apple and Google control over app store payments

South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill that will make it the first country to impose curbs on Google and Apple’s payment policies that force developers to only use the tech giants’ proprietary billing systems. The legislation will become law once signed by President Moon Jae-in, whose party has been a vocal supporter of the bill. Apple and Google’s policies usually require developers to pay the tech giants a commission as high as 30% of every transaction.

The bill, approved Tuesday, means that developers will be able to avoid paying commission to major app store operators — like Google and Apple — by directing users to pay via alternate platforms. An Apple spokesperson said the bill will “put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases and features like ‘Ask to Buy’ and Parental Controls will become less effective.”

They added that user trust in App Store purchases will likely decrease as a result of the legislation. A Google spokesperson said its service fee “helps keep Android free, giving developers the tools and global platform to access billions of consumers around the world.”

South Korea passes bill limiting Apple and Google control over app store payments, CNBC, Sep 1