E-commerce giant MercadoLibre on Monday said it had filed a complaint against Apple with antitrust regulators in Brazil and Mexico over anticompetitive practices, accusing the US-based company Ky abuses what they call a monopoly in distributing apps to their devices.
In a statement, the e-commerce giant said that Apple imposed a series of restrictions on the distribution of digital goods and in-app purchases, including banning apps from distributing third-party digital goods and services such as movies, music, games electronic, book and written content.
In the complaint, the South American company criticized the California tech giant for requiring developers to provide digital goods or services in apps using Apple’s own payment system and preventing they redirect buyers to their website. Jacobo Cohen Imach, senior vice president of public and legal affairs said in a statement. MercadoLibre said complaints against Apple were filed with Brazil’s antitrust watchdog CADE and Mexico’s Federal Institute of Telecommunications and Federal Economic Competition Commission.
Regulators could not be immediately reached for comment. When asked if they would consider a similar move against Alphabet GoogleMercadoLibre’s antitrust director, Paolo Franco Benedetti, said in an interview that the company is not entirely satisfied with Google’s policies, but is currently focusing on complaints against Apple. Benedetti says that Google’s app store has less strict rules than Apple’s.
Apple declined to comment in Brazil and did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment in the United States. Google did not have a comment on the matter.
Apple’s policies have been challenged almost everywhere in the world over the past few years.
During a trial in a US court last year on similar charges, a judge found that Apple had not violated antitrust laws in part because its rules benefited security for users outweighs any harm to app makers.
But the ruling is being appealed and a global resolution of the concerns seems far away. According to Refinitiv data, Nasdaq-listed MercadoLibre is one of Latin America’s largest companies, with a market capitalization of $47.53 billion. Cohen Imach said the e-commerce giant tried “unsuccessfully” to negotiate with Apple. “Without a doubt, we want to avoid conflict with the biggest company in the world; however, we believe we are doing the right thing for the future of competition,” he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
