Kakao Mobility Fined $10.5 Million for Antitrust Violations

South Korea's antitrust authority has fined Kakao Mobility $10.5 million (KRW 15.1 billion) for unfair business practices, including restricting competitors' access to its taxi-hailing app and manipulating its algorithm to favor franchise taxis over non-franchise ones. This penalty was reduced from an initial $50.3 million after the original assessment was deemed excessive due to inflated operating profit calculations. Additionally, Kakao Mobility faced a separate fine of $2.47 million (KRW 3.4 billion) from the Financial Services Commission for suspected accounting fraud, which has been referred for further investigation. Kakao Mobility holds a dominant 96% market share in South Korea's taxi-hailing market, boasting 13.2 million monthly active users compared to its competitors. The Fair Trade Commission noted that Kakao pressured rivals to pay fees for access to the Kakao T app or sign data-sharing agreements. These actions were deemed as unfair trade practices that abuse Kakao's market dominance.