Ban on Forced Use and Ranking in Specific App Markets... Assemblyman Kim Young-sik Proposes Bill

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] A bill to prevent the monopoly of app markets such as Google and Apple has been proposed.

On the 10th, Kim Young-sik, a member of the People Power Party, announced that he had proposed two partial amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act.

[Image source=Pixabay]

Recently, industry dissatisfaction has been growing over the abuse of monopoly power by major app market operators, such as Google's circumvention of the in-app payment enforcement law and Apple's closed app market operation. The market has continuously raised the need for reasonable regulations to create a fair competitive environment and enhance user choice. The bill to prevent app market monopolies legislates what is called "Sideloading" overseas. The purpose is to allow users to freely download apps not only through their own app markets like Apple's App Store but also through other companies' app markets or external web routes.

Rep. Kim said, “It has become inevitable to improve laws and systems for the coexistence of various participants in the digital ecosystem,” and added, “Through this amendment, operators owning operating systems (OS) are prohibited from forcing users and content providers to use specific app markets and from unfairly restricting the operation of apps installed through other companies' app markets, effectively preventing acts that hinder fair competition in the mobile ecosystem.”

He also said, “By allowing the Minister of Science and ICT to evaluate and disclose the security of app markets and mobile content, users are strongly protected, and concerns about stability due to the expansion of app distribution channels have been resolved.”

As a measure to establish a fair mobile content distribution order, the bill aims to eliminate unfair practices where content providers are concentrated only in large app markets by restricting the so-called “ranking system,” which publishes rankings based on sales, download numbers, and other criteria among app market operators. Additionally, to prevent app market operators from restricting transactions with other operators or disrupting distribution order, a standard form of agreement will be prepared and reported to the Minister of Science and ICT.

Rep. Kim pointed out, “Since app rankings greatly influence sales and download numbers, app developers fall into a vicious cycle of entering only some app markets with many users. In particular, some game operators develop content that actively induces payments to increase sales, causing social problems such as increasing users' economic burdens and undermining the mobile content usage culture.”