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BY Associated Press

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South Korea on Wednesday fined Alphabet’s Google and Apple a combined 63.7 billion won ($47.6 million), saying they abused their dominance in app store markets by forcing local developers onto their own payment systems and by unfairly delaying app reviews.

The Korea Media and Communications Commission, the country’s media and telecommunications regulator, spent years investigating the U.S. tech giants for allegedly violating a 2021 law that prohibits app store operators from forcing developers to use specific payment systems.

The commission fined Google 42.9 billion won ($32 million) and Apple 20.8 billion won ($15.5 million) and ordered both companies to let South Korean developers use external payment links within their apps and to improve their app review procedures.

Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The commission said Google and Apple unfairly pushed app developers toward their own…