Dutch Authority Upholds Fines Against Apple Despite Objections
The Dutch competition watchdog ACM announced on Monday that it has dismissed Apple’s objections to the 50 million euros ($53 million) fines imposed on the company for not adhering to the orders aimed at reducing the dominant position of Apple’s App Store.
ACM said Apple has complied with most of its requirements to open its App Store to alternative payment methods for dating apps in the Netherlands, but has not met the third part of the fines’ conditions.
The ACM ruled in 2021 that Apple violated Dutch competition laws in the dating app market and demanded that Apple allow dating app developers to use third-party payment processors.
It fined Apple 5 million euros per week, eventually rising to 50 million euros during the time it was in non-compliance.
Apple contested these fines, saying the regulator had wrongly defined the relevant market and overestimated Apple’s dominance in the dating app market.
The regulator rejected all of Apple’s objections in a decision dated July 13, 2023, published on Monday.
“We disagree with ACM’s original ruling, which undermines investment incentives and is not in the best interest of our users’ privacy or data security,” Apple said in its response.
“Since the ACM has rejected our administrative appeal, we intend to appeal to the Dutch courts.”
ACM said it would publish the as-yet-undisclosed portion of the lawsuit against Apple if it wins the lawsuit.
