US House Judiciary Subcommittee Vice Chair and
In-App Payment Regulation Virtual Meeting
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The legislatures of South Korea and the United States have united in their intent to regulate global platform companies with strong monopolistic influence, such as Google and Apple.
On the night of the 17th, Cho Seung-rae, the ruling party whip of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, held a video conference with David Cicilline, Democratic Representative (Rhode Island) and Vice Chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee, regarding in-app payment and big tech company regulation directions.
Representative Cicilline is a key Democrat who led the passage of five antitrust bills focused on regulating big tech companies in June. He spearheaded the introduction of the 'Ending Platform Monopolies Act.' This bill targets the four major U.S. big tech companies known as GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon).
On the 11th, six senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. Senate introduced the 'Open App Markets Act,' which prohibits app market operators from forcing in-app payments. The bill targets app market users with over 50 million users in the U.S., including Google and Apple.
In the video conference, Representative Cho stated, “The tyranny of big tech companies owning platforms is not only a domestic issue but a global problem,” adding, “The monopolistic influence of big tech companies is destroying a free and creative digital economy.” He also expressed support for follow-up legislation related to big tech regulation introduced in the U.S. House following the Senate.
Representative Cicilline said, “Platform companies have harmed the economy, workers, and entrepreneurs through monopolistic power,” and added, “This has been clearly proven through a 450-page investigative report by the U.S. Congress.” He further stated, “I send my support to the Korean National Assembly and its members who are pushing legislation against the pressure and lobbying of powerful giant platform companies.”
Representative Cicilline expressed his intention to invite Representative Cho to the ‘IGC Forum,’ a discussion body on global platforms, for ongoing cooperation, to which Representative Cho agreed.
The IGC is an ‘International Parliamentary Forum’ for information sharing, collaboration, and policy harmonization to solve common problems and achieve shared goals among democratic countries. It promotes global cooperation and legislative coordination to address platform company issues and digital threats to democratic societies.
Representative Cho also called for pooling wisdom together to establish a catalyst role that revitalizes the digital economy based on the consensus between the South Korean and U.S. legislatures. He emphasized, “Through legislative cooperation between Korea and the U.S., concerns over Korea-U.S. trade due to legislation banning in-app payments have been dispelled,” adding, “Through dialogue and cooperation between the two countries’ legislatures, we have taken a step closer to building a healthy digital ecosystem.”
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