Russia warns Apple over default search engines and missing Russian apps, giving company until July 15 to comply or face a fine of up to $52 million
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has issued a warning to Apple because iPhones and iPads come with a foreign search engine by default and fail to preinstall Russian apps. The company has until July 15 to fix the violations or risk a fine of up to 4 billion rubles (about $52 million).
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has issued a warning to Apple over alleged antitrust violations in the country.
According to FAS, the issue is that iPhones and iPads come with a foreign search engine installed by default, forcing users to manually change settings to use Russian search engines. The agency called this "discriminatory conditions for domestic developers" and said it infringes on consumer rights.
Another reason for the warning is Apple's failure to comply with requirements to preinstall Russian software on iOS devices, including the Max messenger and Russia's domestic app store, RuStore.
FAS gave Apple until July 15 to correct the violations. If the company ignores the warning, it faces a fine of up to 4 billion rubles (about $52 million) for violating antitrust law.
The warning comes after Apple removed a group of apps tied to Russia's VK holding company from the App Store in June. The removed apps included Max messenger, VKontakte's flagship app, Mail.ru's email apps, the Odnoklassniki social network, and other VK products.
Apple stated that Max was removed "in accordance with sanctions compliance rules," but the reasons for removing other apps remain unclear.
Russia's Digital Development Ministry called the removal of VK's apps from the App Store a "politically motivated decision" and filed a complaint with FAS. The Kremlin said the move "raises the question of this service's reliability and how much it can be trusted as a provider of commercial services."
