Apple fined another US$5.7 million in the Netherlands, the fourth fine in App Store dispute over dating apps payments
- The Dutch antitrust watchdog has been levying weekly fines of 5 million euros since Apple missed a January deadline to allow third-party payments in dating apps
- Apple said it made the required changes but the regulator said it falls short by requiring developers to submit a new app and convince users to switch
The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has been levying weekly fines of 5 million euros on Apple since the company missed a January 15 deadline to make changes ordered by the watchdog.
Apple’s app-store payment policies, in particular its requirement that app developers exclusively use Apple’s payment system with commissions of up to 30 per cent, have come under scrutiny by antitrust officials and lawmakers in several countries, most recently the United States.
Apple asserts in posts on its websites that it has complied with the ACM’s December order, which found it was abusing a dominant market position and had to change.
But the Dutch watchdog repeated on Monday that Apple had not complied, and was putting “unnecessary and unreasonable” conditions on dating app developers.
The ACM singled out a requirement that developers who want to use non-Apple payment methods must submit a new app to the App Store to do so, and then convince their customers to switch.
Apple, which says non-Apple payment methods pose a security risk, did not respond to requests for comment.