Apple has been fined another $5.7 million for the tenth consecutive week by the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Market (ACM), over the lack of third-party payment options for dating app developers. As the tech giant reaches $55 in million penalties, it is being reported that the ACM is “sounding more positive” to its most recent App Store proposal.
Apple reaches $55 million in penalties levied by Dutch regulators
As reported by TechCrunch, the Dutch watchdog is open to the most recent proposal Apple has offered. As per the report, the proposal “should result in definitive conditions for dating-app providers,” and subsequently, the tech giant’s weekly fines.
In a statement today, the Dutch regulator said: “ACM welcomes Apple’s current step. The adjusted proposal should result in definitive conditions for dating-app providers that wish to use the App Store. Once the proposal for definitive conditions has been received, ACM will submit it to market participants for consultation. ACM will then as soon as possible hand down its decision whether Apple, when implementing those definitive conditions, is in compliance with ACM’s requirement that alternative methods of payment should be possible in dating apps.”
While Apple’s latest proposal is a step in the right direction, the ACM has decided that it may impose another fine on the tech giant in order to stimulate compliance.
“Until last weekend, Apple still had not met ACM’s requirements. That is why it has to pay a tenth penalty payment, which means that Apple must pay the maximum penalty of €50 million,” it added. “If ACM comes to the conclusion that Apple does not meet the requirements, ACM may impose another order subject to periodic penalty payments (with possibly higher penalties this time around) in order to stimulate Apple to comply with the order.
Apple has been fined $5.7 million weekly by Dutch regulators since it missed a January 15, 2022 deadline to make the ordered changes to its App Store. The tech giant has claimed to be in compliance with the order since February when it announced that it would still charge a 27% commission fee for developers using alternative payment methods for Dutch dating apps in place of its in-app purchase system in the Netherlands. The ACM was not satisfied at the time and continued hitting Apple with weekly fines.
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