The latest round of legal disputes between technology giant Google and the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has finally come to a conclusion. The Supreme Court (MA) of the Republic of Indonesia officially rejected the cassation application submitted by Google on Tuesday (10/3/2026).
This decision is the final “hit of the hammer” that closes all legal loopholes for Google in Indonesia regarding cases of alleged monopolistic practices and abuse of dominant position through the Google Play Billing (GPB) system.
Chronology of Google’s Defeat at Court
Case number 03/KPPU-I/2024 was decided by a panel of judges chaired by Syamsul Ma’arif. With the rejection of this cassation, the KPPU’s decision made in January 2025 is now final or has permanent legal force.
Google is now required to:
- Paid an administrative fine of IDR 202.5 billion to the state treasury.
- Terminates mandatory use of Google Play Billing for application developers.
- Opening access to alternative payment methods through the User Choice Billing scheme.
The journey of this case actually started in 2022. After being found guilty by the KPPU in early 2025, Google submitted an appeal to the Central Jakarta District Court, but this attempt failed and finally went to the cassation level at the Supreme Court.
Why is Google Play Billing considered problematic?
The root of the problem in this case is Google’s policy which requires application developers in Indonesia to use a single payment system, namely Google Play Billing (GPB). As the leader of the application distribution market in Indonesia with a share of 93 percent, this policy is considered to be strangling local developers.
Based on the KPPU’s investigation, Google is suspected of violating Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopoly Practices. Some of the points that weigh against Google include:
- High Commission: Google cuts service fees (fees) of 15 to 30 percent from every in-app purchase.
- App Removal Threat: Developers who do not comply or try to use other payment systems are threatened with having their apps removed from the Play Store.
- Alternative Limitations: There is no room for third-party payment methods, so consumers and developers have no other choice.
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Impact for Application Developers and Users
This GPB policy previously applied mandatory for various types of applications, ranging from subscription services (education, music, video), digital items in games, ad-free applications, to cloud storage services.
With this latest Supreme Court decision, it is hoped that the digital ecosystem in Indonesia will become healthier. App developers now have the freedom to offer cheaper or more efficient payment options to users without fear of sanctions from Google.
The KPPU’s victory at the Supreme Court level is a strong signal that Indonesia is very serious about monitoring the business practices of global technology companies in order to protect local entrepreneurs and fair business competition.
Apart from the main news above, KotakGame also has an interesting video which you can watch below.
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.
The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.
