The Dutch antitrust agency on Monday fined Apple 5 million euros for not allowing app makers in the country to use payment methods other than the company itself. The penalty is the fourth defined by the body against the company.
The Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM) has levied weekly fines of €5 million against Apple since the company missed the January 15 deadline to make the changes ordered by the agency.
Apple’s app store payment policies, in particular the requirement that developers use exclusively the company’s payment system, which charges commissions of up to 30%, are under scrutiny by antitrust authorities and lawmakers in several countries, with the most recently in the United States.
Apple claims it complied with the ACM’s December order. But the Dutch agency repeated on Monday that Apple had not made changes required by the authorities and that it was imposing “unnecessary and unreasonable” conditions on app developers.
The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF), which represents developers including the Match Group, which owns Tinder, said Apple’s strategy is to delay changes to its app store as long as possible and find out the minimum amount of changes authorities can make. antitrust would accept.
“Each year of delay is another $25 billion in revenue” for Apple, said CAF Representative Damien Geradin. “Wouldn’t you spend a few million on lawyers if you could keep doing this for a few more years?”
On January 15, Apple said it complied with the Dutch regulator’s decision, but the body countered that the company had made no changes.
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
