ALBAWABA — Apple Inc. paid off a $12.12 million fine stemming from a Russian antitrust case which found the company abused its dominance in the application market, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service said on Monday.
The case was initiated in 2019 by Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, which said that Apple had blocked access to its Safe Kids parental control app since it competed with Apple's own Screen Time app.
After its investigation, FAS determined in August 2020 that the company had abused its dominant position while also issuing a directive requiring Apple to remove provisions giving it the right to reject third-party apps from its App Store.
Apple appealed the decision in an effort to overturn the 2021 fine but Russian courts upheld the ruling.
Apple had appealed the decision at various stages but had been unsuccessful and ultimately complied with the order, FAS said on its Telegram channel, reporting that “Apple has paid a 906 million rouble antitrust fine”.
Apple previously “respectfully disagreed” with a FAS ruling that Apple’s distribution of apps through its iOS operating system gave its own products a competitive advantage.
Russia in 2021 passed legislation, dubbed the “anti-Apple” law, requiring all devices with Internet access sold in the country to be equipped with approved software produced by Russian companies.
In a separate January 2022 case, which is being appealed, FAS fined Apple around $17.4 million for forcing Russian developers to use Apple's payment services with the iOS App Store.
After the invasion of Ukraine, Apple stopped online sales, limited its Apple Pay service and paused all product sales in Russia.
