Apple has had to make some big changes to accommodate Europe’s Digital Markets Act – even if those changes seem exceedingly unlikely to have gone far enough. But for now, at least, the company is safe from similar antitrust legislation in South Korea …
Europe’s Digital Markets Act
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a piece of antitrust legislation aimed at tech companies with dominant market positions. The goal is to increase competition in the sector by removing some of the advantages held by tech giants, and to make it easier for startups to compete.
Apple was deemed to have a dominant position in app sales, but not in messaging. That meant the company had to permit competing app stores. The company has done so, though on terms which are unlikely to satisfy the EU.
Similar Korean legislation stalled
South Korea had looked set to introduce very similar legislation, but The New York Times reports that this has now stalled.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission, with the backing of President Yoon Suk Yeol, said in December that it planned to make a proposal modeled after the 2022 Digital Markets Act, the European Union’s landmark law to rein in American tech giants. This bill also seemed to target South Korea’s own internet conglomerates just as much as the Alphabets, Apples and Metas of the world.
The commission said the law would designate certain companies as dominant platforms and limit their ability to use strongholds in one online business to expand into new areas.
Then last week, the agency suddenly shifted course. After a furious backlash from South Korean industry lobbyists and consumers, and even the U.S. government, the Fair Trade Commission said it would delay the bill’s formal introduction to solicit more opinions.
It’s not clear when, or even if, the bill will advance.
The reason for the backlash? A number of large Korean companies were concerned that they would be hit.
In South Korea, Naver, not Google, is the preferred search engine and map service. Coupang has emerged as the dominant player in e-commerce with efficient deliveries, and Kakao is a ubiquitous messaging service in the country, with a stronghold in ride hailing.
K-Internet chairman Park Seong-ho is one of those opposing the legislation, arguing that competition will solve any imbalance.
“A dominant platform here will be replaced by another in a matter of years, and this cycle will repeat,” Mr. Park said. “It’s like prematurely preventing a large, strong student with the potential to become an athlete from training out of fear he will become a bully.”
Photo by Zequn Gui on Unsplash
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