SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — 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.
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In this photo provided by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), KMCC chairperson Kim Jong-cheol, center, speaks during a meeting at the government complex in Gwacheon, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (The Korea Media and Communications Commission via AP)
FILE - This combo of photos shows the logo for Google, top and Apple, bottom. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo a man walks past a Google sign outside with a span of the Bay Bridge at rear in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - In this Friday, April 20, 2012, file photo, Baek Sung-min, 23, reacts after purchasing a new iPad at an Apple store in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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 in-app payment systems while barring payments through external websites. Although the companies technically allowed third-party payment systems within apps, they charged developers a 26% commission and withheld some features available through their own systems, effectively forcing developers to use only their in-app payment systems, the commission said.
The commission said it also found instances where the companies delayed app reviews without clearly explaining to developers the reasons for the delays or when reviews would resume. It also accused Apple of charging South Korean developers higher commissions than developers elsewhere from 2015 to January 2023.
South Korea has for years closely scrutinized the business practices of foreign technology companies operating in its market. In 2021, it became the first country to enforce a law prohibiting app market operators such as Google and Apple from requiring users to use their own in-app payment systems.
In this photo provided by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), KMCC chairperson Kim Jong-cheol, center, speaks during a meeting at the government complex in Gwacheon, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (The Korea Media and Communications Commission via AP)
FILE - This combo of photos shows the logo for Google, top and Apple, bottom. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo a man walks past a Google sign outside with a span of the Bay Bridge at rear in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - In this Friday, April 20, 2012, file photo, Baek Sung-min, 23, reacts after purchasing a new iPad at an Apple store in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A high-speed train slammed into the rear of another train that had stopped, derailing two cars and killing at least 30 people on Wednesday in central Spain, according to local media.
Spanish authorities initially reported 10 deaths, but Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, added “that number will surely rise.”
Spanish state-owned news agency EFE and other media reported later that the death toll had risen to at least 30.
It was the second major train accident in Spain this year.
Spain’s rail system operator ADIF said the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that the accident was between two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from the capital Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain. One ran into the tail of the other that had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. She said the cause of the crash was not known.
The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left one car shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García told TVE that emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars. She said that the injured are being sent to different hospitals in the area.
“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.
The accident involved a train from Spain’s state-owned RENFE company and the private rail company IRYO. It appeared the RENFE train rammed the IRYO train, Spanish media reported. Trains from those two companies were also involved in a deadly crash in January.
Padilla said that 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers in the IRYO train.
IRYO, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement that it has “activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities.”
The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to injured passengers.
A military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, firefighters and police to the crash site.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled his agenda to focus on the crash. He wrote on X that he was “dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo.”
“Emergency services are working on site to attend to the affected passengers,” wrote Sánchez, who faces a national election next month. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
The regional president of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, wrote on X that he was on his way to the crash site.
In January, 45 people died in southern Spain when a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train. The crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people. The January incident shook the confidence the European country has in its extensive high-speed rail network.
Emergency services attend to the victims at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP)
The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)
The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)
