Gapjil refers to power harassment and abuse of power in Korean
The National Assembly submitted anamendment of theTelecommunications Business Actknown as ‘In-App Payment Compulsory Prevention Act (Google Gapjil Prevention Act)’to the Agenda Coordination Committee.This means that the ruling party has put pressure on the lukewarm opposition party to process the bill before October, when the mandatory Google in-app payment begins. It is expected to speed up the amendment process, which was tied to the bill review subcommittee.
The National Assembly Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee announced on the 24th that theyare forming an agenda coordination committee with three Democrats, two from the People's Power, and one independent. According to the National Assembly Act, the referred agenda is decided with the approval of at least two-thirds of the conciliation committee members.
If the mediation proposal has been approved, it is considered to have been reviewed by the subcommittee. The Standing Committee must vote on the agenda within 30 days from the date on which the resolution of the mediation proposal is made.
The ruling and opposition party have been arguing fiercely over the so-called Google Gapjil Prevention Act. The Democratic Party is in the position that a bill should be passed to prevent a monopoly on global platforms, and the leading opposition party, thePeople Power Party, isin position to leave with market adjustment.
If the amendment is delayed, there is also a prospect that Naver and Kakao, which have lost their power, may join hands with Google.
On the same day, Google actually announced a plan to cut fees for content applications (apps) with large companies. Kakao denied this, but Naver opened up the possibility of participating by saying, "Nothing has been decided."
Google announced that it will start the 'Play Media Experience Program', a fee reduction policy for digital video/audio/book providers and app developers. Program participants must integrate 'application programming interfaces' (APIs) with Android-based device platforms such as TVs, vehicles, wearables, and artificial intelligence (AI) speakers. Depending on the content type, Google may have additional requirements.
Google applies a 15% service fee to program participants. This is half of the 30% commission received through in-app payment.
As one of the conditions for participating in the program, Google puts the performance requirements of app installation from Google Play apps of at least 100,000 times per month. Prior to this, businesses with annual sales of less than 1 million USD (about 1.1 billion KRW) were eligible for fee reduction benefits, but now a fee discount was proposed to large corporations.
A Kakao official said, "There was no separate proposal from Google, and (participation) was negative." A Naver official said, "(Participation in Google's fee discount policy) has not been decided.”A subtle change is detected in some companies of their‘absolutely opposed’ position of in-app payment.
Last year, Google made it mandatory to introduce an in-app payment system. The fee was only applied to game apps, but now expending other contents and also up to 30% commission. In Korea, the in-app payment system will be mandatory from October after postponing the global policy.
An industry official said, “Naver and Kakao are expanding their webtoon, web novel, and music business globally, so it will be difficult toconfront Google. The National Assembly must step forward and form a front line against in-app payment to become a fence to protect the domestic corporate ecosystem.”
By Staff Reporter Siso Kim (siso@etnews.com)