Russian anti-monopoly regulator has launched an investigation against Apple

Previously, Apple removed a large number of parental control apps from the app store. These apps mainly helped parents know about the various operations of children. At the same time, the technology used is called mobile device management, which belongs to Apple’s restricted technology, because the use of this technology may cause potential privacy issues. At that time, the similar application of Kaspersky, a well-known security software developer, was also removed from App Store. For this reason, Kaspersky complained in Russia about Apple’s alleged monopoly.

After the initial information collection, the Russian regulatory authorities, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service, publicly stated that it had investigated Apple for Kaspersky’s complaint. The focus of the problem is that the child safety application developed by Kaspersky is similar to Apple’s screen time function and can be used to determine part of the child’s use. But Apple has removed third-party developers’ apps and Apple’s own similar apps are still available, suggesting that Apple may have a monopoly. It is also true that the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service said that the agency is currently assessing whether Apple is abusing its market dominance to suppress competitors.

Apple believes that the above features may cause privacy leaks for users, even if the user is a child, the privacy information is not known to the parents of the child. Compared to Apple’s own screen time, you can only judge the approximate usage time of the application. The functions provided by third-party applications are obviously more powerful. But feature-rich also involves potential privacy and security issues, so Apple has stated in its previous statement that it will strictly manage such applications.

Source: Reuters