Russia Fines Apple $12 Million USD for Allegedly Abusing Its App Store Dominance
The investigation stems from a 2019 complaint from Kaspersky Lab.
Russia has fined Apple $12 million USD for allegedly abusing its App Store dominance.
Reuters recently reported that Russia’s own antitrust regulator (FAS) began its investigation on the tech giant in 2019 after Kaspersky Lab filed a complaint claiming Apple had forced it to limit the functionality of its Safe Kids app. However, shortly after, Apple introduced its own Screen Time feature.
In the summer of 2020, Russian regulators sided with Kaspersky and ruled that Apple unlawfully blocked developers after they supposedly forced them to distribute their apps on its iOS app store. In addition to the hefty fine, the FAS ordered Apple to remove all provisions that “give it the right to reject (not allow) third-party applications in the App Store for any reason, even if they meet all the requirements.” As a part of the fine sentence, Apple now must ensure that parental control app developers can continue to distribute apps without any limited functionality.
Reports further state Apple has “respectfully disagreed” and has made the decision to appeal it. The decision comes just after Apple faced increased scrutiny over gatekeeping the App Store in the U.S. and E.U.
In other tech news, the Uber app now offers COVID-19 vaccination bookings at Walgreens.
