Google has long been wishy-washy about billing rules in the Play Store, but it announced strengthened enforcement in 2020. Not all developers were pleased with the changes, which forbade bypassing the Google Pay system. Epic filed (another) lawsuit, and lawmakers in South Korea passed an in-app payment law known colloquially as the "anti-Google law." It's being put to the test now that the rules have gone into effect. According to local reports, the popular KakaoTalk app is unable to submit updates because includes a link to its website for payments rather than integrating with the Play Store payment platform.

At the core of this dispute is the way developers have traditionally been expected to hand over a sizeable chunk of revenue to Google (or Apple) for every transaction in their apps. In past years, this fee was a flat 30%, which many felt was excessive. The share going to the platform has come down for certain kinds of content, and Google says most developers now qualify for 15% shares. However, South Korea was the first in the world to mandate app developers be allowed to offer third-party payment options that route less money to Google or Apple. Devs still have to pay the service fees, but Google drops it by 4% to compensate for the cost of using a third-party payment processor.

KakaoTalk is in hot water with Google because it still has a plain old link to its website, where users can buy premium items outside of Google's ecosystem. That means no money goes to Google. Google's new South Korean policy allows third-party payments but requires devs to add those options alongside the Google option (see above). Since KakaoTalk isn't doing that, Google is blocking app updates. Presumably, other apps that do the same are going to be hit with similar blockages soon.

This does seem like something of a gray area as far as the law is concerned, but regulators might choose to side with developers regardless—after all, there's a reason people call it the "anti-Google law." We've reached out to Google for comment and will update if we hear back.

UPDATE: 2022/07/05 16:45 EST BY RYAN WHITWAM

No comment from Google

Google has not provided any additional details, referring us instead to its public billing FAQs for the South Korean market.