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Russia's antitrust watchdog finds Apple abused App Store 'dominance'
The country's competition watchdog has ordered to resolve regulatory breaches.
Potential action from US lawmakers may not be what forces Apple to change how it does business. Following a year-long investigation into the company, Reuters reports Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has found the iPhone-maker abused its dominant position in the mobile app marketplace and will order Apple to resolve multiple regulatory breaches.
The agency started investigating the tech giant after developer Kaspersky Lab filed a complaint over the rejection of its Safe Kids app from the App Store. At the time, Apple said the software put “user’s safety and privacy at risk.” The agency ruled Apple forces developers to distribute to their apps through the App Store and then unlawfully blocks them. A spokesperson for Apple told Reuters the company plans to appeal the ruling.
The decision comes as Apple faces increasing scrutiny over its gatekeeping of the App Store in both the US and EU. When Tim Cook testified before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee at the end of July, lawmakers asked the executive about the company’s decisions to block some competitors from its digital marketplace. Cook was also asked about the ongoing 30 percent cut the company takes from third-party app sales, a rate many developers argue is too high. Apple was again in the spotlight earlier this month after it said it would not allow Microsoft’s Project xCloud on iOS since its App Store guidelines require developers to submit games individually for review.
