Apple’s decision to stop product sales in Russia over the war in Ukraine has not saved the company expenses, stemming from the multiple antitrust investigations that are going on. One of them has reportedly concluded with a $12.12 million fine over the Cupertino Company breaking monopoly legislation.
This particular case goes back to 2020, when the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) concluded that Apple is receiving an unfair advantage through its dedicated AppStore. The case has taken years to revolve, but the competition regulator finally concluded that Apple owes Russia a massive amount of money. Naturally, Apple “respectfully disagrees” and plans to appeal this decision, even though reports from Reuters point to the fine being already paid out.
All of this was initiated through Kaspersky Labs — a company renowned for its antivirus software — when its Safe Kids app was rejected as per AppStore internal regulations. Anton Gorelkin — a committee member on information and communications — went on record stating that the fine isn’t meant to be damaging to Apple, but to be noticeable enough to send a message to Big Tech.
But as we all know, sometimes, when it rains — it pours. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is gaining on Apple with another fine, this time for $17.4 million. This one is related to the AppStore’s way of processing payments and more specifically, the lack of options that developers have when it comes to choosing how they bill their customers.
As per Reuters’ report, Russia sees Apple’s rules as abuse over its dominant position on the iOS market. Furthermore, the big, red, flashing light is related to Apple’s prohibition of developers to point users to payment solutions outside of the AppStore itself.
This is yet another instance of Apple being pursued by legislators worldwide over the way it runs its AppStore. This isn’t something unique to Apple either, as Google was recently forced through law to open up Android to third-party stores in India. As more and more lawsuits are being won against Big Tech companies, one cant help but wonder what the future of mobile digital goods will look like.