Apple was fined again for involving unfair competition

According to Reuters, the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) recently said that Apple violated the country's competition laws and ordered Apple to revise its App Store payment policy.

This is the second time that Apple has been launched antitrust measures after the European Union, the United States, South Korea, Japan, India, and Russia.

Leifeng network learned that as early as 2019, Dutch regulators have begun to investigate whether Apple's behavior constitutes an abuse of market dominance, but later the scope of the investigation was narrowed to dating software.

According to the decision, Apple would have to adjust the unreasonable conditions in its App Store that apply to dating software developers, that is, allow them to use other payment systems. ACM requires Apple to implement rectification by January 15, and if it does not comply, Apple will face a fine of up to 50 million euros.

In response, Apple responded:

We disagree with the order issued by ACM and have appealed. Apple didn't have a dominant position in the Dutch software distribution market, and we invested a lot of resources to help dating software developers attract customers so that they could thrive on the App Store.

Apple has long required app developers to use its built-in payment system and take a 15-30 percent commission from it, a practice that is being closely watched by regulators and lawmakers around the world.

Since the beginning of this year, global lawmakers including the European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, India and other countries have successively conducted unfair competition investigations against Apple, and some countries have made progress in their judgments:

In April 2021, Apple was accused by the European Commission of the European Commission for restrictive rules in the App Store.

In August 2021, South Korea's parliament passed a bill prohibiting app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.

In September 2021, apple and Epic Games had a preliminary verdict, and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Federal Court in Oakland, California, issued an injunction against Apple, asking it not to prohibit app developers from providing links and other means to guide users to use in-app purchases other than Apple.

In October 2021, the Russian Federal Antitrust Service (FAS) launched an antitrust investigation against Apple or imposed an operating fine on the latter for prohibiting other alternative payment methods to App Store app buyers.

In December 2020, Apple denied this after an investigation was conducted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Apple forcing app developers to use its proprietary systems to harm competition. The case is currently under wider investigation,

The CCI will review Apple's response to the allegations and may conduct a broader investigation, possibly dismissing the case entirely if it is found that there is no basis for it.

It is not difficult to foresee that antitrust measures in various countries will continue, and the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority will not be the last regulator to take antitrust measures.

Resources:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/apples-app-store-broke-competition-laws-dutch-watchdog-says-2021-12-24/