Brazil’s antitrust watchdog CADE has begun investigating a complaint by e-commerce retailer MercadoLibre Inc against Apple Inc over alleged abuse of a monopoly in distributing apps for its devices, the regulator said on Wednesday.
The decision to open the investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Apple was made last week based on the complaint filed in December MercadoLibreCADE said in a statement.
“Similar investigations are being conducted by antitrust authorities in other jurisdictions,” the watchdog said.
That’s what MercadoLibre argued Apple had imposed a number of restrictions on the distribution of digital goods and in-app purchases.
The South American company has criticized the California tech giant for allowing developers offering digital goods or services within apps to use Apple’s own payment system and preventing them from redirecting shoppers to their websites.
MercadoLibre filed its complaint in Brazil and also in Mexico.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple’s policies have been challenged in almost every part of the world in recent years.
In a US court case over similar allegations, a judge found that Apple had not violated antitrust laws in part because its rules resulted in security benefits for users that outweighed the harm to app makers. However, the verdict is being appealed and a global solution to the issue seems a long way off.
According to CADE, antitrust investigations against Apple are ongoing around the world, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, India and Indonesia.
Nasdaq-listed MercadoLibre is one of Latin America’s largest companies with a market cap of $53.82 billion (around Rs.437.9 billion), according to Refinitiv data.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
