Indonesia’s KPPU Fines Google $12.37 Million For Unfair Trade Practices

Indonesia’s KPPU Fines Google $12.37 Million For Unfair Trade Practices

The tech giant has earlier faced penalties in India, the European Union and Russia

Indonesia's antitrust agency, KPPU has fined Google $12.37 million for unfair business practices on its payment system on the Google Play Store.

Launched in 2022, the probe revealed the tech giant’s abuse of dominant market position by requiring Indonesian app developers to use Google Pay Billing.

The system allegedly charged higher rates than other payment options and developers faced removal from the Play Store if they did not comply.

Earlier, Google defended its practices, stating it implemented a system allowing developers to offer users an alternative billing option.

However, the Indonesian regulator held that the company's actions amounted to anti-competitive behavior and penalized it.

Google has faced multiple fines, including a €2.4 billion fine from India, the European Union and a large fine from Russia.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google Rs.1,337.76 crore for anti-competitive practices related to Android devices in October 2022. (Google paid the entire penalty).

The competition regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs.936.44 crore on the company for abusing its dominant position in the Play Store policies.

In 2017, Google was fined 2.4 billion pounds (Rs.26,172 crore) for abusing its market dominance by unfairly penalizing a price comparison website, Foundem.

It was also ordered to pay a UK couple Shivaun and Adam Raff, who won a 15-year legal battle after Google pushed Foundem down in search results.

While acknowledging the fine's symbolic significance, Russia fined Google a sum described as "more than Earth's entire wealth."