Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday said that it would add the option for developers to offer alternative billing systems on its Android app store in South Korea to comply with the law.
The South Korean National Assembly in late August approved a law, commonly referred to as the anti-Google law, that mandated that mobile app store operators open up their platforms to outside payment handlers and give users a choice of how to pay.
At issue in the matter are the long-established platform fees that Google and close rival Apple Inc collect from every in-app payment — typically a 30 percent charge that they justify on the basis of providing security for users and wide distribution for developers.
“In the coming weeks and months, we will share implementation details for developers, including instructions for submitting security and customer service verifications and a set of user experience guidelines so users can make an informed choice,” Google said in a statement.
Separately, Google on Wednesday announced the reopening of its news service in Spain next year after the country amended a law that imposed fees on aggregators such as the US tech giant for using publishers’ content.
The service closed in Spain in December 2014 after legislation passed requiring Web platforms such as Google and Facebook Inc to pay publishers to reproduce content from other Web sites, including links to their articles that describe a story’s content.
However, on Tuesday, the Spanish government approved an EU copyright law that allows third-party online news platforms to negotiate directly with content providers regarding fees.
This means Google no longer has to pay a fee to Spain’s entire media industry and can instead negotiate fees with individual publishers.
News outlets struggling with dwindling print subscriptions have long seethed at the failure of Google particularly to pay them a cut of the millions it makes from ads displayed alongside news stories.
Additional reporting by AFP
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