Indonesia fines Google $12.4 million for unfair business practices

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia's antitrust agency on Tuesday ordered Google to pay fines of around 202 billion rupiah ($12.4 million) for unfair business practices related to its payment system services for Google Play Store, its software distribution platform.

The agency launched an investigation into Alphabet Inc's Google in 2022 on suspicion it had abused its dominant position by requiring Indonesian app developers to use Google Play Billing, at higher rates than other payment systems, or face removal from the Google Play Store.

The panel said in a hearing that the systems reduced developers' earnings as they led to the reduction of users, adding that Google had been found breaking Indonesia’s law against monopoly.

The agency found that Google had charged a fee of up to 30% via Google Play Billing, the panel said.

Google controlled a 93% market share in the country of 280 million people which has a fast-growing digital economy, the agency said.

A Google spokesperson said on Wednesday the company would appeal the ruling.

"Our current practices foster a healthy, competitive Indonesian app ecosystem," the spokesperson said, adding it was committed to complying with Indonesian law.

Google has previously said it had introduced a system where developers could offer users an alternative billing option.

Google has been fined more than 8 billion euros ($8.3 billion) by the European Union in the last decade for anti-competitive practices related to its price comparison service, Android mobile operating system and advertising service.

(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Alison Williams, Martin Petty, Ed Osmond and Saad Sayeed)

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