[Edaily Reporter An Yu-ri ] The first legal dispute between Toss, a leading domestic platform company, and Kakao(035720) has concluded with Toss withdrawing its criminal complaint. The two companies, which at one point engaged in a criminal complaint battle over advertising exposure issues, have resolved their conflict and are now expanding their service integration with a focus on user convenience.

According to the information technology (IT) industry on the 1st, Toss recently withdrew the criminal complaint it filed against Kakao last July on charges of obstruction of business. Consequently, the investigation being conducted by the Bundang Police Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, has been closed, bringing all criminal proceedings to a close.

An IT industry official stated, “I understand that both sides have resolved the issue amicably.”

This case drew industry attention as it marked the first legal dispute between major domestic platform operators.

The dispute stemmed from Toss’s reward event links not being displayed properly on KakaoTalk. At the time, Toss claimed that when users shared the reward event links via KakaoTalk, warning messages such as “Untrusted page” or “Page requiring caution” appeared, or access to the links was restricted, thereby hindering ad exposure and user traffic.

Kakao, on the other hand, has maintained that these were simply measures taken by a security system that automatically activates when user reports exceed a certain threshold, and that they were not targeted at any specific company.

Toss Expands Service Reach by Introducing “Send Money to KakaoTalk Friends”

Although the legal dispute has been resolved for now, competition in the financial platform market continues. Toss and Kakao are engaged in fierce competition across a wide range of major financial services, including internet banking, mobile payments, securities, insurance, authentication, and MyData.

However, with recent service integrations utilizing public APIs, there is a growing trend toward expanding areas of potential collaboration.

A prime example is the “Send Money to KakaoTalk Friends” feature recently introduced by Toss. Users can easily select recipients within the Toss app by accessing their KakaoTalk contact list.

The industry views this as a shift in the relationship between the two companies: while they continue to compete in their core businesses, they are expanding cooperation in areas that enhance user convenience and service expansion.