The Russian anti-monopoly agency (FAS) announced on Tuesday that it had sentenced the US giant Apple to a record fine of more than $ 12 million for having "
abused its dominant position
".
"
The FAS imposed a fine of $ 12 million on Apple
", or 10 million euros at the current rate, for having "
abused its dominant position in the distribution of mobile applications on the iOS operating system
", the regulator said in a statement.
The complaint behind this fine was filed by the cybersecurity company Kaspersky in 2019. The Russian group accused Apple of having barred access to a Kaspersky parental control application when the American giant was about to launch a similar application, Screen Time.
"
From our point of view, Apple seems to use its position as owner of the platform (...) to dictate the conditions and prevent other developers from operating on an equal footing with it,
" Kaspersky said in a statement. , in 2019.
Apple is appealing
"
We respectfully disagree with the decision of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and we are appealing its decision,
" for its part reacted Apple in a statement sent to AFP.
“
We're proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of developers in Russia, including Kaspersky, reach over one billion customers in 175 countries through the App Store,
” says Apple.
“
We have worked with Kaspersky to bring their application into line with the rules that have been put in place to protect children.
They now have 13 applications on the App Store and we have processed hundreds of updates for them,
”adds the American group.
An investigation against YouTube
According to the FAS, Apple has "
unlimited discretion, which can lead to a restriction of competition
".
The Russian regulator has asked Apple to abandon the right to reject external applications on the App Store.
The Russian authorities have recently stepped up their turn on the Internet, coupled with a fight against the big foreign IT giants.
Last week, the FAS notably opened an investigation against Google and its YouTube video platform, also for “
abuse of a dominant position
”.
A law that came into force on April 1 also makes it compulsory to pre-install Russian software or applications (including that of Kaspersky) on all smartphones, tablets, computers and other connected objects sold in Russia.
