Apple settles another antitrust case in Russia, paying millions for in-app payment dispute.
MOSCOW: U.S. Tech giant Apple has paid a 1.2 billion ruble ($13.65 million) fine to Russia over the company’s alleged abuse of its dominant market position in in-app payments, Russia’s competition agency FAS said Monday.
Apple, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, has previously “respectfully disagreed” with FAS’s ruling that distributing Apple’s apps through the iOS operating system gave its own products a competitive advantage.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service said Apple paid the fine on January 19 and that the funds had been transferred to the Russian federal budget.
In February 2023, the FAS said Apple had paid a fine of about $12.1 million in another antitrust case that alleged Apple abused its dominant position in the mobile app market.
Russia has been at loggerheads with foreign technology companies for several years, particularly over what Moscow considers illegal content and the failure to store user data locally, a dispute that escalated after Russia sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Apple suspended all product sales in Russia shortly after the start of the conflict in Ukraine and limited its Apple Pay service in Russia.
