In recent years, Apple and Google have faced increasing anti monopoly voices. In Europe and America, the monopoly issues of Apple and Google have been brought to court several times. Now, the wave of anti-monopoly has spread to Japan.
Japan will introduce anti-monopoly regulations against Apple and Google
According to Nikkei News, Japan is also preparing to introduce regulations requiring technology giants such as Apple and Google to allow external app stores to make payments on their mobile operating systems, in order to curb the abuse of their dominant position in the Japanese market.
According to reports, this regulation restricting the monopolistic behavior of Apple and Google is expected to be submitted to the Japanese parliament in 2024.
The regulation will restrict platform operators from keeping users in their own ecosystem and excluding competitors. The bill mainly covers four areas: app stores and payments, search, browsers, and operating systems.
According to this regulation, the Japan Fair Trade Commission will be able to impose fines on Apple and Google for their violations. If the current anti-monopoly law is used as a template, the fine amount will generally reach about 6% of the problematic business income. However, the specific details of the regulation still need to be finalized next spring.
Japanese media reported that the Japanese government will determine which companies this regulation applies to based on standards such as sales revenue and user numbers. At present, it is expected that the main multinational giants affected, such as Apple and Google, are unlikely to affect Japanese companies.
Allow third-party app stores and payment systems
Currently, Apple does not allow applications to be downloaded to the iPhone through channels other than its own App Store. In app payment also needs to go through Apple's system, with a maximum commission of 30%. Meanwhile, although Google allows third-party app distribution platforms, it typically still requires apps to use its billing system.
This effective monopoly on in app payment may result in users paying higher fees on mobile devices than on PCs when paying for the same content or service.
The Japanese government believes that this model can consolidate the dominant position of the two companies in the mobile phone market. The regulation aims to compel them to allow third-party app stores and payment systems.
According to this regulation, Japanese companies will be able to operate specialized game stores on iOS devices and use the lower cost payment system provided by Japanese fintech companies.
According to the Ministry of General Affairs of Japan, it is expected that the mobile application market in Japan will expand to $29.2 billion by 2023, an increase of about half from 2018.
Prohibit search systems from favoring their own products
The proposed regulations in Japan also include search related provisions, such as prohibiting search engine operators from providing preferential treatment to their services.
For example, this may prohibit Google from always placing its flight booking or restaurant booking tools at the top of its search results.
This provision in Japan clearly refers to the European Union's Digital Markets Act.
The EU's Digital Markets Act will be fully implemented in 2024, which prohibits "gatekeepers" from favoring their tools in search results, and violators will face fines equivalent to up to 10% of global revenue in the previous fiscal year.
The "gatekeeper" enterprises in the EU refer to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft. On September 6 local time, the European Commission identified them as "gatekeepers" enterprises according to the Digital Market Act.