William Gallagher
Russia's competition regulator has fined Apple, say that its forcing of developers to use the App Store payment system is an abuse of the company's dominant position.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) originally announced in July 2022 that it would be fining Apple. The regulator said that it had concluded Apple, "prohibits iOS app developers from telling clients inside the app about the possibility of paying for purchases outside the App Store or using alternative payment methods."
Now according to Reuters, following what it has described as a period of administrative investigation, FAS has levied a fine of $17.4 million on Apple.
The regulator also says that Apple must pay the fine within two months.
FAS previously fined Apple $12 million in 2020 concerning an alleged unfair advantage in the digital app economy. Apple was subsequently allowed to appeal the fine, though it's not yet known whether it will have the same opportunity with this latest one.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
14 Comments
A country whose existence is based on crime, slavery, and terrorism levying a fine for breaking "regulations." That's rich.
Betcha Tim Apple’s losing tons of sleep over this …
Maybe I'm missing something but didn't Apple stop selling in Russia? So why would it pay a fine to a country it no longer does business in? I know, I know: it may want to pay to make sure it'll be able to resume business once the Ukraine war is over - but that would put Apple into a pickle from a moral perspective. It ostensibly stopped doing business in Russia because it thinks Russia's invasion of Ukraine is immoral/unjust and does not want to contribute to it. Well, paying $17m would do just that.
You'd think Russia wouldn't fine companies that pulled out. I'd assume Russia would try and win back those companies, not fine them. But what do I know about Russia. I assumed they'd be competent, but we're on month 11 of the special 3 day military operation so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯