A look at the efforts in Japan, South Korea, and Australia to create stronger regulations for big tech platforms like Apple and Google
Tokyo, Seoul and Canberra follow the EU and US in trying to rein in the dominance of Apple and Google — Japan, South Korea and Australia are tightening rules …
Context & Ripple Effects
Japan’s move is part of a multiyear escalation: its competition authority had already signaled it would challenge major platforms alongside US and European counterparts, then examined whether mobile-OS power was constraining consumer choice. The reported push toward rules for alternative app stores and payments extended that scrutiny into platform access terms.
This story broadens the frame from Japan to Seoul and Canberra, with all three jurisdictions targeting the market power of Apple and Google. It matters because the focus is not merely on conduct investigations, but on rules that can reshape how mobile platforms control distribution and services.
First-order effects
- Apple and Google face heightened regulatory exposure across Japan, South Korea and Australia, requiring closer scrutiny of the rules governing their platform ecosystems.
- Japan’s policy direction builds on its earlier investigation into whether Apple and Google’s OS positions were limiting competition through reduced consumer options.
Second-order effects
- Platform operators may need to adapt app-distribution, payment, and service-access policies market by market rather than rely on a single regional playbook.
- Developers and rival service providers gain a stronger basis to press for access terms that reduce the advantages of the mobile platform owner.
Third-order effects
- If these efforts translate into enforceable obligations, Asia-Pacific markets could reinforce a global shift from case-by-case antitrust scrutiny toward ex ante rules for platform gatekeepers.
- The durability of that shift will depend on whether regulators align core obligations or create divergent national compliance regimes for the same mobile ecosystems.
The trend: Governments are increasingly treating control of mobile operating systems, app distribution, and related services as a gatekeeper problem that warrants targeted platform rules.