South Korea is investigating whether Google broke antitrust laws

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s antitrust regulator said on Friday it was investigating whether Google had violated the country’s antitrust law. For the first time, he confirmed formal control of a global Internet search company.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) disclosed the investigation in a brief statement, without commenting on the nature of the probe or potential antitrust violations. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters last month that the KFTC inspected Google’s Seoul headquarters in July.

The antitrust authority’s statement came after local media reports said the KFTC had decided to clear Google of anti-competitive charges related to the pre-loading of the company’s applications on smartphones with the Android operating system.

Google, whose parent company is Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), declined to comment.

While it was unclear whether the investigation would lead to any formal charges, the probe opens another regulatory front for Google. On Thursday, the company was hit with a $6.8 million fine in Russia and multiple antitrust charges from the European Union.

The KFTC has already investigated Google. In 2013, regulators cleared Google of wrongdoing following an investigation into whether the company harmed competition by forcing Android-based smartphone makers to preload its search engine onto phones.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)