Apple fined €5m for the ninth time in two months by the Netherlands
Recurring fine related to an antitrust order that requires Apple to open its App Store to alternative payment options for dating apps
The Dutch antitrust watchdog has imposed a €5 million (about £4.15 million) fine on Apple, the ninth such weekly penalty the company has received since January over an antitrust order to open its App Store to alternative payment options for dating apps in the Netherlands.
Nando Kasteleijn, a Dutch tech reporter, released a note from the Autoriteit Consument & Markt (Authority for Consumers and Markets; ACM) on Monday, suggesting that Apple has filed fresh proposals to comply with the ACM's order.
Details of the new proposals were not disclosed, but ACM said that it would evaluate them and determine whether Apple had finally met the requirements to avoid more penalties.
ACM plans to meet with various market actors and intends to conclude the investigation soon.
In August 2021, the ACM determined that Apple was abusing its market position by imposing unfair conditions on developers of dating apps in the Dutch App Store.
The government agency said it was unacceptable that Apple alone could collect payments - and a substantial sales commission - for dating apps in the store.
In December, it ordered the company to modify its App Store payment policies for dating apps, insisting that Apple must provide alternative payment options for such apps.
The regulator specified that those options should be accessible to users both within and outside the app.
Because Apple did not respond to the ACM's satisfaction, the agency announced in January that it would punish the company with €5 million fine each week until it complied, up to a maximum of €50 million.
Apple stated last month that it had met the requirements and had been in compliance since January 15.
It added that developers who wish to take advantage of the new regulations would have to create a new app for alternative payments, and that it would collect a 27 per cent commission of those transactions, rather than the usual 30 per cent charged on purchases made outside of App Store in the Netherlands.
However, ACM pointed out that the company had simply added multiple hurdles for dating apps to comply with Apple's polices, and that alternative payment options had become more complicated and costly for app developers.
The regulator said that developers were still unable to provide the extra options, so it started fining Apple on a weekly basis.
Cupertino has now been penalised €5 million for the ninth time, bringing the total to €45 million.
Before ACM could fine Apple again after the initial €50 million, it would have to issue a fresh ruling, maybe with higher penalty. For that, the ACM will have to convince the court that Apple is not compliant.
Although the ACM's ruling judgement in the Netherlands only relates to dating apps, Apple is likely concerned that the judgement might be applied to a larger collection of apps and spread to other countries.
Earlier this month, South Korean legislators approved an enforcement rule in favour of the last year's amendment to the Telecommunication Business Act. That law prevents companies like Google and Apple from requiring customers to use a certain payment method.