Russia-Apple antitrust dispute over digital sovereignty
The developments in this story so far, most recent first.
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· date approximate Development
Russia launches antitrust investigation into Apple over app restrictions
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· date approximate Background
FAS issued a warning to Apple regarding discriminatory practices.
In early July, Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) issued a warning to Apple, giving the company until July 15 to cease discriminatory practices against domestic search engines and applications. The regulator's demands specifically addressed Apple's alleged failure to allow the pre-installation of Russia's national messaging app, MAX, and a domestic app store on iPhone and iPad devices using the iOS operating system.
The FAS notified Apple that failure to meet these requirements could result in a fine of up to 4 billion rubles, which is approximately 50 million dollars. This action followed reports that Apple had removed several applications from the App Store in June, including various apps from the Russian technology company VK.
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· date approximate Background
Apple removed numerous applications from the App Store, including VK's apps.
In June, Apple removed a variety of applications from its App Store, which included several services from the Russian technology company VK. The removed apps included VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, VK Video, VK Music, VK Messenger, Mail, Dzen, and Skillbox.