Supreme Court Rejects Cassation, Google Ordered to Pay Rp 203 Billion Fine

Google has stated it will study the Supreme Court’s decision rejecting its cassation appeal in a case involving allegations of monopoly and abuse of dominant position in implementing the payment system at Google Play Store, and that it will comply carefully with the decision once it is officially published.

The statement was issued by Google Indonesia’s office on Monday, 16 March 2026, in Jakarta. “We will study and comply carefully with the decision of Indonesia’s court once the Supreme Court’s decision is published,” Google said.

Google also stated that the company believes its current practices promote a healthy and competitive Indonesian application ecosystem. The company’s focus remains on investment that builds and supports the digital application ecosystem.

With the Supreme Court’s decision, the ruling by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) imposing a fine of Rp 202.5 billion on Google LLC is now final and legally binding.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 10 March 2026, decided to reject the cassation appeal filed by Google LLC in the case of alleged monopoly and abuse of dominant position in implementing the Google Play Billing System in the Google Play Store. The decision was made by the Supreme Court panel of judges chaired by Syamsul Ma’arif with Nurul Elmiyah and Nani Indrawati as member judges.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of Google LLC’s cassation appeal also means closing all legal avenues pursued by Google LLC in the case involving the implementation of the Google Play Billing System (Google’s payment system available at Google Play Store on all Android phones).

KPPU Public Relations and Cooperation Head Deswin Nur said the Supreme Court’s decision makes the KPPU ruling legally final and binding. Google LLC must pay the fine of Rp 202.5 billion along with other sanctions from KPPU.

The case of alleged monopoly and abuse of dominant position by Google LLC was investigated by KPPU in September 2022. Initially, KPPU suspected unfair business competition from Google LLC’s policy requiring all application developers on Google Play Store to use the Google Play Billing System as the sole payment method.

Google LLC’s mandatory policy was also accompanied by a prohibition on using alternative payment methods. Google LLC also charged service fees of 15-30 per cent per transaction.

During the investigation process in 2024, KPPU investigators found that Google Play Store controlled 93 per cent of the application distribution market in Indonesia. Therefore, the mandatory policy applied by Google LLC had the potential to create barriers to entry in the payment market and reduce payment options for application developers and consumers.

At the hearing on 21 January 2025, the KPPU Commission panel decided that Google LLC was proven to have violated Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition. KPPU imposed a fine of Rp 202.5 billion.

KPPU also ordered cessation of the mandatory use of Google Play Billing and gave all developers the opportunity to participate in the “User Choice Billing” programme with an incentive of at least a 5 per cent reduction in service fees for one year.

Initially, Google LLC rejected the KPPU ruling by filing an appeal to the Central Jakarta District Court, but its petition was rejected. Google then filed a cassation with the Supreme Court.

The case of alleged monopoly and abuse of dominant position by Google at Google Play Store has also occurred in other countries. One of the most prominent cases occurred in the United States, involving Google versus Epic Games.

According to The Guardian, in 2024, a US court ordered Google, owned by Alphabet, to overhaul its mobile application business to give Android users more choice in downloading applications and making transactions within them, following a jury’s decision last year in favour of video game maker Fortnite, Epic Games.

A year later, according to an AP report, the US Supreme Court rejected protecting Google from an order issued a year earlier requiring major restructuring of its Android application store, designed to increase competition against a system declared an illegal monopoly by a jury.

The rejection announced by the US Supreme Court means Google must immediately begin overhauling the Play Store for applications running on Android software that powers most of the smartphones competing with Apple’s iPhone in the US.

From the case against Epic Games that captured worldwide attention, according to an article posted on Android Police media on 4 March 2026, the technology giant announced three major changes to Google Play Store, namely more billing options, a programme for registered application stores, and lower fees and a new programme for developers.

These three changes will be launched globally in 2027. Google Play Store will offer developers more choices in terms of billing. Mobile application developers can continue to use Google Play’s billing system if they wish. If not, they will have full freedom to use their own billing system within their applications.

Alternatively, they will also have the option to direct users outside their applications to their own websites for purchases. “Our goal is to offer this flexibility in a way that maximises choice and security for users,” the technology giant wrote.

Google will explicitly separate service fees from billing fees charged to developers for using Google’s billing system.