A law to regulate app store operators is key to checking the monopolistic nature of Big Tech
South Korea’s latest law, Law termed ‘anti-Google’, is something that Indian parliamentarians should consider emulating. Last week, its parliament passed an amendment to its Telecom Business Act aimed at preventing app store operators like Google and Apple from forcing app developers to use their in-store payment systems for which they charge exorbitant fees. take. The new law is also a bar on unfair use of market positions. With digital commerce becoming ubiquitous, and Google and Apple controlling this experience through their platforms, it has become imperative for government laws to regulate them. South Korea ranks first from the bloc. But many other jurisdictions are not far behind either. Australia, which recently brought in a law to allow internet platforms to pay media companies to display their content, is now reportedly seeking to bring digital payment services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and WeChat Pay under its regulatory purview. thinking about. The EU’s draft law seeks to make these large platform companies “gatekeepers” as it refers to them, giving smaller companies a fair chance. The EU proposal is also centered around customers having more choice.
explained | How does South Korea’s ‘anti-Google’ law make in-app payments free?
But that is not all. In the US, last month, three senators brought a bill along similar lines. Presented by Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Amy Klobuchar, and Republican Marsha Blackburn, it aims to “enhance competition and reduce gatekeeper power in the app economy, increasing choice, improving quality, and lowering costs for consumers.” All this is happening in the backdrop of a pending verdict in the much-loved case in which Epic Games, the company behind ‘Fortnite’, sued Apple over the same issue. The legal move was triggered after Apple ousted Epic from its platform in order to set up its own payment system. App store operators are on the backfoot all over the world. In India too, the anger of app developers has been evident in recent times. According to a report, Apple is facing an antitrust challenge in India from a Rajasthan-based non-profit organization called ‘Together We Fight Society’ on this issue. It remains to be seen whether the regulator, the Competition Commission of India, orders an inquiry. Last year, it launched an investigation into similar allegations against Google. The law regulating app store operators is not a drastic deviation from this government’s thinking on such issues. More recently, it promoted the establishment of an open network for digital commerce to “democratize e-commerce” and “provide an alternative to proprietary e-commerce sites”. The challenge, however, is to protect small vendors and developers without reducing the ecosystem for technological innovation.
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