South Korea's antitrust regulator has fined Kakao Mobility 72.4 billion won (approximately $54.82 million) for anti-competitive practices. Kakao Mobility, a subsidiary of Kakao Group, allegedly forced competitors' taxi franchise operators to sign cooperation agreements and blocked those who refused from using its ride-hailing service, Kakao T.
Kakao demanded cooperation agreements from smaller competitors such as Uber, Banban Taxi, Macaron Taxi, and Tada. When these companies declined, Kakao restricted drivers associated with these competitors from accessing Kakao T and denied them non-franchise ride requests. This behavior was deemed a violation of the Fair Trade Act by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).
The KFTC noted that these actions drove most of Kakao's competitors out of the market, hindered fair competition, and limited taxi drivers and customers' service options. In addition to the fine, the KFTC has referred Kakao Mobility for prosecution.
