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Margaret Vestager: It's easier for Apple to pay fines than to allow third-party payment options in the AppStore

Danish politician Margarethe Vestager, Vice President of the European Digital Commission and European Commissioner for Competition, said in a speech on February 22 that it was easier for Apple to constantly pay fines from regulators than to comply with the requirement of the Dutch government to introduce third-party payment options in the AppStore. As Vestager points out, Apple deliberately ignores the requirements in order to avoid compliance with antitrust laws.

On February 21, 2022, the Dutch regulator fined Apple €5 million, the fifth time in the past few weeks. In total, the company was fined €25 million. Back in January, the Netherlands promised to fine Apple every week until the company complies with the requirements set in October 2021. Then the country's government recognized the company's policy in the AppStore as an abuse of dominance and decided to allow third-party payment methods into the app store.

In mid-January, Apple updated the rules for processing payments in the Dutch App Store, after which it announced the admission of new payment methods for dating applications, but with several restrictions. In particular, developers must first ask Apple for permission to use third-party payment services. After that, the company will offer a choice - the developers process all payments only through a third-party service or only through Apple. In any case, a commission of up to 30% will be charged from payments.

The Dutch regulator considered the measures taken by Apple insufficient. The company should allow developers to freely use all available payment methods. Otherwise, the Netherlands will continue to issue weekly fines. The question of the size of the commission when making payments through third-party services also remains open.

Margaret Vestager in her speech drew attention to the scarcity of leverage on IT giants. Paying fines turns out to be more profitable than complying with the requirements. According to Vestager, European regulators should work out more effective measures to force companies to comply with antitrust laws.

Margaret Vestager: It's easier for Apple to pay fines than to allow third-party payment options in the AppStore