The South Korean antitrust regulator fined Google 207.4 billion won ($ 176.8 million) for abusing its dominant position in the mobile operating system market.
According to Reuters, the regulator points out that the company impeded market competition when it demanded that smartphone manufacturers enter into agreements according to which they could not install modified versions of the Android operating system (OS) on their devices. The regulator claims that such actions have hampered innovation in the creation of new operating systems for smartphones.
Earlier in September, South Korea's parliament passed legislation that prohibits large app store operators like Google from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.
Recall that in mid-July, the French antitrust regulator fined Google 500 million euros for failing to comply with several court orders that were issued to the corporation in April last year. Shortly before this, the European Commission (EC) officially launched an antitrust investigation against Google to check whether the American company violated EU competition rules.
