Russian federal competition regulator FAS has found that Apple abused its dominant position on the mobile applications market, by limiting competition in the market for iOS parental control applications. The investigation was carried out following a complaint from the security software company Kaspersky Lab.
The Russian regulator found that Apple restricted distribution and features of the parental control apps on its App Store from October 2018. As a result, the range of third-party apps and their features was limited. At the same time, Apple released its own pre-installed Screen Time app on iPhones, offering similar parental controls.
Given the company's 100 percent control of the iOS App Store, this was an abuse of its dominant position, FAS found. It ordered the company to stop the anti-competitive practices and ensure non-discriminatory access to the App Store.
Kaspersky welcomed the decision and called on Apple to implement the FAS order. Furthermore, the company said it hopes that Apple does not put its own apps in a more privileged position and allows other app developers access to the same tools and capabilities that Screen Time uses.
