Apple paid $13.5M in fines to the Russian budget

American technology company Apple has agreed to pay a fine of 1.2 billion rubles ($13.65 million) to the Russian government. According to the Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service, the money have already been transferred to the Russian budget.

• The reason for the fine, according to the Russian authority, was that Apple forbade developers of iOS applications to inform customers within the program about the possibility of paying for purchases outside the App Store, as well as use alternative payment methods.
• Although Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the company disagreed with the Russian regulator’s decision but did pay a fine on 19 January this year, as Reuters reports.
• In February 2023, the Russian authority also reported that Apple had paid a fine of approximately $12.1 million for another violation of antitrust laws, which concerned the abuse of a dominant position in the mobile app market.

Why is it important?

Russia has been at conflict with foreign technology companies for several years now, particularly over what Moscow considers illegal content and refusal to store user data locally. These disputes intensified after the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Following the atrocities the Russian army started committing in Ukraine, Apple suspended the sales of its products in Russia and limited the functionality of Apple Pay in the country. However, after almost two years, Apple seems to have given in to the blackmail and decided to appease the terrorist government.