Cade, Brazil’s antitrust regulator, ruled that Apple should remove the restrictions on in-app purchases as the body moves to investigate a complaint filed by MercadoLibre, an e-commerce giant that is popular in Latin America.
According to Reuters, the complaint filed by MercadoLibre in 2022 pointed out that Apple imposes its in-house payment system upon developers that offer digital goods or services, and prevents these developers to redirect buyers to their own websites and do their transactions outside the app.
Cade wanted Apple to give a leeway to developers to be able to add tools that would allow customers to transact outside the app. This could be through hyperlinks that will bring users to external websites. In addition, Cade would like Apple to provide customers with other payment options aside from the one it already has.
According to the report, Cade has given Apple 20 days to comply with its demands, or face a penalty of $43,000 per day.
According to Apple Insider, the tech giant has been at crosshairs with antitrust regulators for its strict app practices for years. Multiple countries have already been breathing down the neck of the company to make some changes to its system, especially those dealing with third-party merchants and developers.
The most well-known antitrust lawsuit faced by the tech giant in the U.S. was in Epic Games vs. Apple, which was a three-year court battle that eventually ended when the Supreme Court denied to hear any appeals from both sides. The issue, which started in 2020, stemmed from a feature on Epic Games, which allowed the app to skirt the Apple payment system, giving customers the freehand to pay Epic directly. The in-app payment system that Epic opposed is still the same one that Cade has taken issue with recently.
Meanwhile, the EU has forced the tech giant to develop a new commission system. EU saw success in its move, and along with it, a welcoming change in in-app payments were made. The latter was made as a point of reference for other countries to follow suit.
The recent move of Cade was lauded by the Coalition for App Fairness, calling it as a “pivotal moment.”
“This is a pivotal moment in the global effort to create a more competitive mobile app ecosystem,” a press release stated.
“Brazil joins a long list of brave jurisdictions eager to reform app store practices to the benefit of consumers and developers. CADE’s decision reflects a growing global consensus that essential government intervention can create fair and competitive digital marketplaces.”
