- Kyle Chua
Indonesia Investigating Google’s Payment System Over Alleged Antitrust Practices
Indonesia's antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation against Google for alleged unfair business practices over the mandatory use of proprietary payment systems.
The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) suspects the search engine giant is abusing "its dominant position, conditional sales and discriminatory practices in digital application distribution in Indonesia". Reuters reports the initial investigation found that the company has been requiring Indonesian developers to implement Google Pay Billing (GPB) in their apps, which collects a 15% to 30% service fee. And that fee is said to be higher than that of other payment providers, which start at 5% or lower.
If the developers do not comply, their apps could risk being removed from the Google Play Store, reducing their exposure and preventing them from sending updates.
"The respective developers cannot refuse the obligation because Google can impose sanctions by removing their applications from the Google Play store and preventing them from making updates to their applications," said the KPPU.
Google, according to the agency, has a 93% market share in Indonesia, which is indicative of its dominance.
The Jakarta Post (via Asia News Network) adds that the multinational tech company could face a fine of up to Rp25 billion, or about US$1.67 million when converted.
Google has yet to return requests for comment. Going by similar investigations in other countries, however, the company is expected to argue that the service fee helps keep Android free, giving developers a global platform to tap into billions of consumers.
Google is no stranger to antitrust cases. The European Union has fined the company more than 8 billion euros, approximately US$7.99 billion, over the last decade for unfair business practices related to Android and its advertising services, among others. South Korea last year also passed a law that prohibits app store operators from requiring developers to use their payment systems.
Indonesia's antitrust agency, the KPPU, has launched an investigation against Google for alleged unfair business practices over the mandatory use of proprietary payment systems.
The search engine giant is accused of requiring Indonesian developers to implement Google Pay Billing (GPB) in their apps, which collects a 15% to 30% service fee.
If the developers do not comply, their apps could risk being removed from the Google Play Store.
Google could pay a fine of up to Rp25 billion, or about US$1.67 million when converted.