News: Japan Enacts Regulatory Law that targets Apple as well as Google Smartphone Market Dominance
Japan is now the latest country to adopt a regulatory law which target businesses like Apple Inc. along with Google LLC from limiting third-party companies that want to distribute and monetize their own apps for Google and Apple devices.
According to Kyodo News, "The legislation will bar the makers of the Apple's iOS and Google's Android smartphone operating systems, stores for apps as well as payment systems from hindering the sale of apps and other services that compete directly with the native platform's." This is to prevent the platform providers from "gatekeeping" while also forcing to create more competition between their applications and those of other platforms.
The current Japan antimonopoly law provides fines of 6% on revenues gained through anticompetitive practices. The penalties in this new law are more precise. They're 20% of the domestic revenue gained on services in breach of this law, increasing to 30% if illegal practices continue to exist.
The new law is expected to be in effect at the end of 2025, which Kyodo News points out is similar to one of the EU's recent regulations (presumably the European Union's Digital Markets Act).
Kyodo News also reports that both Apple and Google released announcements concerning their continuing engagement to Japanese regulators.
The earlier report from Kyodo News regarding the regulation that was first approved by Japan's Cabinet declared its support for the law as "a attempt to contest the duopoly monopoly imposed by two industry majors Apple Inc. and Google LLC," and also that this rule shows the Japanese government's determination to work with the EU when it comes to enacting regulations "of Big Tech firms such like Apple, Google and Amazon.com Inc., which have come to exert significant influence over digital services across the globe."
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