Brazil’s CADE Launches Antitrust Investigation Against Apple

Brazil’s CADE Launches Antitrust Investigation Against Apple
Photo: pexels.com 19.01.2023 623

Brazil’s antitrust watchdog CADE has started an investigation into Apple for alleged abuse of a dominant position.

CADE opened the probe following a complaint filed in December by Latin America’s e-commerce and fintech giant MercadoLibre, the agency said in a statement. 

MercadoLibre claimed that Apple has imposed a number of restrictions on the distribution of digital goods and in-app purchases. The South American company also criticized the California tech giant for requiring developers who offer digital goods or services within apps to use Apple's own payment system and stopping them from redirecting buyers to their websites.

The complaint adds to a series of antitrust cases around the world, including in the US, EU, UK, South Korea, Japan, India and Indonesia, Cade added. 

In a U.S. court trial over similar allegations, a judge found that Apple had not violated antitrust law in part because its rules led to security benefits for users that outweighed any harm to appmakers. But the ruling is being appealed.

On January 17, FAS Russia fined Apple 1.1 billion rubles (more than $17 million) for abuse of a dominant position in the applications market. In July 2022, the agency found the company guilty of violating anti-monopoly legislation. Apple imposed on Russian developers of iOS apps the need to use the company's payment tool in their apps. 

Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters

digital markets  Brazil 

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