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This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection past columns.
Who wins when governments face off against tech giants, and who should we support?
In the Netherlands we are taking a small test on this question. Last year, the Dutch counterpart of the US Federal Trade Commission became one of the first regulators in the world. require Apple will offer people multiple payment options to use dating apps on their phones. It was a minor crack in Apple’s claimed absolute control over iPhone apps since 2008.
This has now turned into a stalemate between the world’s most valuable company and the Dutch bureaucrats. Apple has proposed a workaround, but the regulator describes Apple’s stance as “sad” and fined a total of 25 million euros (about $28 million) per week. Apple says that if this is allowed, the security and comfort of iPhone owners will be compromised, but it also says that the company fulfills its legal obligations.
I normally wouldn’t mind a relatively small amount of regulatory beef, but the company is fighting it off like it’s something very important. Apple’s response also reveals how tech superpowers are responding to governments’ efforts to change the role of technologies.
Around the world – in both democratic and authoritarian countries – more officials are asking tech companies to change what they do. Tech giants tend to say they follow the law wherever they operate. But they also hold back against governments and pervert or shape laws and regulations. And it’s not always easy to tell the difference between justifiable defiance and corporate impunity.
For example, democracy advocates have criticized Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Google for not holding back any further against government efforts to censor political speech in countries like the following. Vietnamese, India and Russia. after mass shootings San Bernardino, California in 2015 and Pensacola, Fla., In 2020, internet publishers praised Apple for refusing to help the FBI hack killers’ iPhones.
The Netherlands has become an unexpected high-stakes tech battleground starting in 2019When the Consumers and Markets Authority began investigating whether Apple’s app store was breaking the country’s abuse of jurisdiction laws.
The broad issue is the same as the one Apple is facing from everywhere. Fargo, North Americawith Seoul and many world capitals and courtrooms inside between. Some officials and developers say that Apple unfairly controls our smartphones and digital economy by requiring iPhone apps to be downloaded from its own app store. There, the company sets the rules on what content is eligible and takes commissions of up to 30 percent on some purchases.
App developers, including Match Group, the US company that owns Tinder, Match.com and other dating services, are investigating the Dutch investigation. Voice your complaints about Apple. Match wanted more options circulating Apple’s store to get people to pay for dating services.
In August, ACM issued an order banning Apple from asking dating apps only to use the company’s payment system, which prompted Apple to charge a fee. It may not seem like much, but the Netherlands may be one of the first dominoes in Apple’s loosening of its control over the app economy.
As an answerApple last month said app developers one hostile challenge Dutch regulator Apple has essentially said that dating apps in the country can use any payment system they want, but Apple will charge a fee of 27 cents for every dollar of purchase people make in the app, and will require dating companies to provide information and audit. he is.
Try to imagine Walmart telling shoppers that they can pay however they want, but it may cost more if you use a non-Walmart credit card and have to provide Walmart with your card’s monthly statement.
Those who follow Apple closely said His approach in the Netherlands is likely a blueprint for other cases where judges or regulators try to force the company to do things it doesn’t want to do with the app store.
The regulator says Apple’s new terms do not comply with the ACM scheme. “Apple’s so-called ‘solutions’ continue to pose too many barriers for dating app providers who want to use their own payment system,” ACM spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
A court in the Netherlands will likely have to settle the dispute with Apple. All regulation is slow and complex, but this disagreement shows that tech companies with deep pockets can be even more complex. The question now is whether Apple will tackle current and future attempts to replace the app store with the viability it has in the Netherlands, and if it does, will we be better or worse off.
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