Korea Fair Trade Commission Raids Google. Again.
Google is in hot water in South Korea again.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) raided Google’s offices in Seoul on Monday, people familiar with the matter say. This is the second time the agency has busted in on Google’s South Korean headquarters, and appears to be a response to the search behemoth’s resistance to the KFTC’s Android-related antitrust investigation. Sources say the agency believes Google impeded its probe by deleting documents and asking employees to telecommute while it was occurring.
The KFTC’s last raid of Google’s South Korean headquarters was a search for materials supporting complaints that the company is allegedly limiting access to local search engines on Android smartphones. Sources say that was the purpose of this one as well. In the past, Google has claimed it is cooperating with the KFTC, and denied accusations that it meddled with the investigation.
Google declined comment on the details of the investigation, but stressed that it will “continue cooperating with this and other government inquiries.”