The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has issued a warning to Apple for installing a foreign search engine by default on iPhone and iPad.
The administration says that to use Russian search engines, the user must change the settings manually. The FAS believes that “this creates discriminatory conditions for local developers and leads to the violation of the rights and interests of an unspecified number of consumers.”
Another reason for the warning is non-compliance with the requirements for pre-installation of Russian software on devices running iOS. We are talking, among other things, about Max messenger and the local app store.
The FAS gave Apple until July 15 to eliminate the violations. The ministry added that if the company ignores the warning, it faces a fine of up to four billion rubles for violating antitrust laws.
In June, Max messenger, the main application of the VKontakte social network and Mail.ru email applications, as well as several other applications belonging to VK, disappeared from the App Store. In addition, the Odnoklassniki social network application became unavailable.
Apple said Max was removed from the App Store “in accordance with sanctions compliance guidelines. The reasons for removing the remaining apps are unknown.”
The Ministry of Digital Development described the removal of VK from the App Store as a “politically motivated decision” and filed a complaint with the FAS. The Kremlin said that removing VK apps from the Apple Store “raises questions about the reliability of this service and the extent to which it can be trusted as a provider of commercial services.”