Russia fines Apple $12 million for alleged abuse of dominance in app market

Business Standard Russia fines Apple $12 million for alleged abuse of dominance in app market

(Corrects company identifier to AAPL.O)

By Alexander Marrow MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said it had fined Apple $12 million for alleged abuse of its dominance in the mobile applications market, in the latest dispute between Moscow and a Western technology firm.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Tuesday that U.S. tech giant Apple's distribution of apps through its iOS operating system gave its own products a competitive advantage.

Apple said it "respectfully disagreed" with the FAS ruling and that it would appeal it.

Western tech companies have come under increasing pressure in Russia in recent months, with social network Twitter punitively slowed down over a failure to delete content which Moscow says is illegal.

Facebook, TikTok and Alphabet's Google have also come under fire.

The FAS said in a statement it had imposed a turnover fine on Apple of 906.3 million roubles ($12.1 million) for the alleged violation of Russian anti-monopoly legislation.

It determined in August 2020 that Apple had abused its dominant position and then issued a directive requiring the U.S. company to remove provisions giving it the right to reject third-party apps from its App Store.

That move followed a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, which had said that a new version of its Safe Kids application had been declined by Apple's operating system.

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