Tag: match group

Microsoft, Meta and X Join Fortnite Maker Epic Games’ Battle Against Apple

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Elon Musk’s X and Match Group on Wednesday joined “Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games’ protest that Apple has failed to honor a court-ordered injunction governing payments in its lucrative App Store.

The technology companies, which developed some of the most popular apps in the App Store, said Apple was in “clear violation” of the Sept. 2021 injunction by making it difficult to steer consumers to cheaper means to pay for digital content.

Apple declined to comment specifically on the accusation, which was contained in a filing with the Oakland, California federal court.

It referred to its Jan. 16 statement that it had fully complied with the injunction, which it said would protect consumers and “the integrity of Apple’s ecosystem” while ensuring that developers do not get a free ride.

Epic had sued Apple in 2020, saying it violated antitrust law by requiring consumers to obtain apps through the App Store and charging developers up to 30% commissions on purchases.

The injunction required Apple to let developers provide links and buttons to direct consumers to alternative payment options.

Last week, Epic demanded that Apple be held in contempt, saying new rules and a new 27% fee on developers made the links effectively useless.

In Wednesday’s filing, the technology companies said Apple’s conduct “for all practical purposes” entrenches anti-steering rules that the court found illegal, propping up Apple’s “excessive” commissions and harming consumers and developers.

“Apple’s restrictions on where and how developers can communicate with their users about their options for purchasing in-app content create significant barriers to competition and artificially inflate prices,” the filing said.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear Apple’s appeal from the injunction. It also decided against hearing Epic’s appeal of lower court findings that Apple’s policies did not violate federal antitrust law.

Apple has until April 3 to formally respond to Epic’s filing. The company is based in Cupertino, California, while Epic is based in Cary, North Carolina.

The case is Epic Games Inc v Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-05640.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Google Agrees to Pay $8 Million to Settle Claims Against Deceptive Pixel 4 Ads

Google, a unit of Alphabet, has agreed to pay $8 million (roughly Rs. 65 million) to settle claims it used deceptive advertisements to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday.

The search and advertising giant, which also makes Android smartphone software and owns YouTube, has been scrutinized for antitrust and consumer protection infractions by both the federal government and state attorneys general. The federal government has filed two antitrust lawsuits.

In this instance, Paxton’s office alleged that Google hired radio announcers to give testimonials about the Pixel 4 even though the company had refused to allow them to use one of the phones.

“If Google is going to advertise in Texas, their statements better be true,” Paxton said in a statement. “In this case, the company made statements that were blatantly false, and our settlement holds Google accountable for lying to Texans for financial gain.”

Google said in a statement that it takes compliance with advertising laws seriously. “We are pleased to resolve this issue,” said spokesperson Jose Castaneda.

Meanwhile, Google is also facing issues in India as the competition watchdog has begun an inquiry into the company after some companies alleged the service fee the US firm charges for in-app payments breaches an earlier antitrust directive, a regulatory order seen by Reuters showed on Friday.

Tinder-owner Match Group and Indian startups have asked the watchdog to investigate Google’s new User Choice Billing (UCB) system, which they alleged was anti-competitive.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday issued an order stating “it is of the opinion that an inquiry needs to be made.”

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Google I/O 2023 saw Google tell us repeatedly that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Apple Says to Allow More Payment Options for Dutch Dating App Developers

Apple on Friday laid out how developers of dating apps offered in the Netherlands can skip Apple’s in-app payment systems, a closely watched step by the iPhone maker in the face of global antitrust concerns about its control over the mobile app industry.

Apple has long mandated use of its in-app payment system, which charges commissions of up 30 percent that some developers like Tinder owner Match Group have argued are too high. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) last year ruled that Apple’s rules violated Dutch competition laws in the dating app market and required Apple to allow those developers to use third-party payment processors.

Investors are watching the developments in the Dutch antitrust case for the impact they could have on Apple’s App Store revenues, the biggest component of its $68.4 billion (roughly Rs. 5,347,30 crore) services business.

Under the rules, Apple said dating app developers will still have to pay it commissions for sales made outside of its in-app payment system, though it will give them a slight discount. Apple had previously said developers who were paying its 30 percent commission rate would owe it a 27 percent commission.

But some developers already pay Apple a lower 15 percent commission rate when they meet certain criteria such as retaining subscription customers for more than a year.

Apple’s previous rules did not make clear whether those developers would also get a discount when using third-party payment services. Apple on Friday said those developers will pay a 12 percent commission when using outside payment systems.

Apple on Friday also said that Dutch authorities mandated changes to how apps look when using third-party payments.

Apple’s system will show users a warning that says the user will have to contact the developer over payment problems such as asking for a refund. Apple had originally included a button that would allow users to back out of using the third-party payment option after being shown the warning, but the iPhone maker said Friday that Dutch authorities had rejected that button.

“We don’t believe some of these changes are in the best interests of our users’ privacy or data security,” Apple said in a news post. “As we’ve previously said, we disagree with the ACM’s original order and are appealing it.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Tinder Owner Match Sues Google to Avoid Being Removed From the Play Store

Dating apps maker Match Group Inc sued Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday, calling the action a “last resort” to prevent Tinder and its other apps from being booted off the Play store for refusing to share up to 30 percent of their sales.

Match’s lawsuit follows ongoing cases brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, dozens of US state attorneys general and others in targeting Google’s allegedly anticompetitive conduct with the Play store.

Google said Match was attempting to dodge paying for the significant value it receives.

“Like any business, we charge for our services, and like any responsible platform, we protect users against fraud,” Google said. It has said its payment tool helps deter scams.

Match’s lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California, accuses Google of violating federal and state antitrust laws and seeks to bar such behavior.

It is notable because some of Match’s apps have been exempted from Google policies for about the past decade. Now, Google says it will block downloads of those apps by June 1 unless they solely offer its payment system and share revenue, the lawsuit states.

“This lawsuit is a measure of last resort,” Match Chief Executive Shar Dubey said. “We tried, in good faith, to resolve these concerns with Google, but their insistence and threats has left us no choice.”

At stake for Match is what it describes as hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that would have to be paid to Google.

The majority of users on Match’s most popular app, Tinder, prefer its payment system, which allows for installment plans, bank transfers and other features not provided by Google, according to the lawsuit.

Google said that developers can bypass the Play store and that it has lowered fees and created other programs to address concerns.

Dubey said that going around Play was unviable.

“It’s like saying, ‘you don’t have to take the elevator to get to the 60th floor of a building, you can always scale the outside wall,'” she said.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Google Under Investigation by Dutch Consumer Watchdog Over Play Store Payments

The Dutch consumer watchdog on Wednesday said it had launched a preliminary investigation into Google over its Play store for apps, months after targeting fellow tech giant Apple.

The Match Group, which owns dating site Tinder, lodged a complaint saying that Google only allowed its own payment system to be used when purchasing apps, the Authority for Consumers and Markets said.

Google Play is used to buy applications to be used on smartphones and tablets using Google’s Android system, which together with Apple dominates the global market.

“We very recently received a complaint, and we will see if there is material to launch a formal inquiry,” the Dutch regulator’s spokesman Murco Mijnlieff told AFP.

The process “could take years” but the competition watchdog “may be able to get results faster because of the possible resemblance to Apple”, he added.

The Netherlands fined Apple a total of $52 million (roughly Rs. 396 crore) between January and March this year for similar conditions relating to payments on Apple’s App Store.

The watchdog said app developers must be able to use other payment systems than Apple’s. Apple has still not complied, and the Dutch regulator is now considering a further fine, Mijnlieff said.

Silicon Valley giants have repeatedly come up against problems in the United States and Europe over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

The EU formally accused Apple on Friday of unfairly squeezing out its music streaming rivals.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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