Google reportedly raided by Korean Fair Trade Commission over anti-trust concerns

Oh dear Google, what have you done in Korea? The Korea Fair Trade Commission reportedly raided Google’s offices in Seoul on Monday this week. This marks as the second time that the search engine giant’s headquarters in South Korea have been breached by Korean authorities. Two years ago, the South Korean police raided Google’s office over suspicions that the company might have collected and stored data from Wi-Fi networks without authorization.

According to MLex, a subscription-only newsletter that focuses on European regulatory agencies, the raid took place on Monday and that it appears to be a response to Google’s resistance to the KFTC’s Android-related antitrust investigation. Some sources allegedly said that the agency believes that Google impeded its probe by deleting documents and asking employees to telecommute while the raid was occurring.

Last year, NHN Corporation, who owns the popular search portal Naver, and Daum Communications, also a popular web portal in Korea, reportedly asked the KFTC to investigate Google’s use of Android to build its search business. The two companies claimed that Google is pressuring smartphone makers and mobile carriers to refute the pre-loading of the Naver and Daum search engines on its devices. Google declined to comment about the raid.

Gene Ryan Briones
Categories: Web
Tags: Google, Korea, Legal