A competition complaint against the Google Play Store by the Match Group, which owns Tinder and a number of other dating apps, has sparked an investigation by the Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority over whether the tech giant is abusing its dominant position, the Netherlands Authority for Consumer and Markets (ACM) said today. preliminary investigation.
The Match Group declined to comment on the content of its complaint – but ACM confirmed it had received “an enforcement request regarding the Google Play Store”.
“It is alleged that dating app providers are no longer able to use payment systems other than Google’s payment system. Additionally, dating apps claim that they are also no longer allowed to mention other payment methods,” ACM also said in a brief press statement. Say. “The dating app vendor [Match Group] has asked ACM to assess whether Google is abusing its dominant position with these practices. ACM will therefore conduct a preliminary investigation based on this request”.
The regulator declined to answer questions about the complaint.
In a statement that followed, a Google spokesperson said:
Like all businesses, Google charges for services, but Match Group’s apps qualify for just a 15 percent digital subscription fee on Google Play, the lowest rate of any major app platform. But even if they don’t want to abide by Google Play’s policies, the Android system still provides them with multiple ways to distribute their apps to Android users, including through other Android app stores, directly to users through their website, or as a pure consumption s application.
The ACM has engaged in a lengthy battle with iOS maker Apple over its App Store payment rules (applicable to native dating apps), which has led to the ACM ordering Apple to allow dating apps to use alternative payment processing services and issuing a Series of fines as regulators judge Apple has failed to comply with the order.
By the end of March, the fine had reached the maximum amount allowed by the relevant court order – 50 million euros, however, according to Reuters, the regulator had decided that Apple’s offer was still not in line with its order, and the ACM was preparing a new order, And demand a new fine for Apple Pay.
The enforcement tug-of-war between the ACM and Apple has drawn intense attention from the European Commission, with executive vice president Margrethe Vestager slamming Apple for choosing to pay fines rather than comply in a speech in February.
This is notable because the European Commission itself will be tasked with enforcing a new ex-ante competition regime for the most powerful tech giants, which will come into force across the EU later this year.
The group’s lawmakers in March agreed to the final details of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — cementing a system that would enforce a set of operating rules for so-called “internet gatekeepers” that would shrink Apple and Google’s ability to micromanage what business users have to do in its app store.
Under the forthcoming pan-EU regulation, fines for gatekeepers who fail to comply with the regulation’s upfront obligations can be as high as 10% of annual global turnover. This means that DMAs may be faster to execute and harder to ignore by larger companies than traditional “after the fact” competitive interventions.