Wesley Hilliard
The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service has been given the go-ahead to begin antitrust investigations into the App Store after an appeal from Apple was dismissed.
Since Apple's appeal to reexamine the Russian agency's grounds for investigation was dismissed, the antitrust case will move forward. If found guilty of monopoly practices, Apple could face a fine based on its revenue in Russia.
The threat of an antitrust suit had begun under the premise that Apple was preventing developers from linking users to outside payment options, or "steering." Apple was given until September 2021 to comply with the request, and opened a lawsuit in October.
However, the lawsuit was launched only days after Apple removed its anti-steering provisions from the App Store rules. Apple then appealed the courts for a judicial review of the antitrust regulator's warning.
According to a report from Reuters, the court has dismissed Apple's case, and that gives the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service grounds to continue the investigation into Apple's App Store practices. Though, the decision to dismiss Apple's case can be appealed.
Apple is embroiled in several legal battles with Russian entities at the moment. One case seeks to file a class action lawsuit for Apple removing Apple Pay support in the country as a response to the Ukrainian invasion.
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
12 Comments
Really? Is this some kind of joke? Apple, pull out of Russia completely, let that thug Putin and his henchmen confiscate what little assets you have invested in that totalitarian dystopia. Just saying.
Interesting that comments are allowed here, but not on the article about Russian banks suing for Apple Pay being disabled. For that article I wanted to comment, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." But it is accurate here as well. If Russia be petty and go after companies that pulled out because of the Ukrainian invasion they are just going to make it less likely that the companies will return if relations with the country normalize in the future. I'm sure they are just laying the groundwork for a classic, "We can make all of this go away if you resume operating in the country immediately." Time will tell if companies fall for it.
Of course Russia wants to portray they are the victim here. It plays in with their misinformation campaign that they're liberating Mariupol (instead they destroyed it and killed everyone who couldn't escape), and that the West is the bad guy. I agree -- Apple, unplug from Russia. Any income from that country is blood money.