Apple Attempts to Stop Developers Promoting Alternative Payment Options for In-App Purchases in Russia

Apple is undertaking legal action in Russia to prevent developers from promoting alternative payment methods for in-app purchases that bypass the company's payment system, RT reports.

app store blue banner russia
Apple's lawsuit attempts to challenge Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the request it made to the company in August to "stop abuse in the market." The FAS's request would allow developers to inform users about alternative payment options for in-app purchases, but Apple is seeking to have this withdrawn by judicial review.

The FAS's demand was based on the fact that some users and developers had notified it that some in-app purchases were cheaper outside the App Store due to skirting Apple's 15 to 30 percent commission, but this is not allowed to be highlighted in apps due to Apple's rules.

Apple was given a deadline of September 30 to allow developers to promote alternative payment methods and was cautioned that a failure to abide by the request could result in a fine based on the company's revenue in Russia. In October, the FAS initiated proceedings against Apple for non-compliance.

The development is Apple's latest point of contention in Russia. In March, Apple was forced to comply with a request from the Russian government to show users a list of government-approved apps to download during initial device setup, and in April, the company was fined $12 million for violating anti-monopoly rules with the ‌App Store‌.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 air iphone 16 pro

iPhone 17 Air USB-C Port May Have This Unusual Design Quirk

Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years. iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack) At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
iphone 16 display

iPhone 17's Scratch Resistant Anti-Reflective Display Coating Canceled

Monday April 28, 2025 12:48 pm PDT by
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors. Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Reaches Key Milestone Ahead of Mass Production

Monday April 28, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report. iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...
iPhone 17 Pro on Desk Feature

All iPhone 17 Models Again Rumored to Feature 12GB of RAM

Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by
All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM. ...
iOS App Store General Feature JoeBlue

Epic Games Wins Major Victory as Apple is Ordered to Comply With App Store Anti-Steering Injunction [Updated]

Wednesday April 30, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by
In a victory for Epic Games, Apple was today found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to allow developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has been handling the Apple vs. Epic Games dispute for the last five years, said that Apple is in "willful violation" of the injunction she issued to ...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

iPhone 18 to Use High Performance Six-Channel Memory, Claims Leaker

Tuesday April 29, 2025 7:00 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 18 lineup will introduce a major leap in memory performance, according to new information shared today by Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. Apple is reportedly planning to equip the 2026 models with a high-capacity six-channel LPDDR5X memory configuration, significantly upping the memory bandwidth for future AI features and multitasking. Expanding the memory bandwidth...

Top Rated Comments

now i see it Avatar
45 months ago
There’s a certain satisfaction seeing this all go down
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
45 months ago
In Russia? Maybe in the EU but in Russia? Good luck with that. That’s like telling China what to do
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sophisticatednut Avatar
44 months ago
Oh well look at that.
Apple is a curb defender of democracy and human rights.
Putin tells apple to remove VPNs and other essential apps for freedom.
Yes Ms Putin, apple always follow local laws as there’s nothing we can do.
Putin order apple to lower their revenue by 1%
Screech, you will take the nicked out of apples cold dead hands as we fight to the death for and litigation to postpone any ruling.

How the double standards are so clear when apple always follow local laws… when convenient
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
collin_ Avatar
45 months ago
Lol. Didn’t Apple recently state that they would stop banning developers from linking to alternative payment services in the wake of the South Korea and California litigation? (Which, to be clear, is textbook anticompetitive behavior.)

Apple will act ethical and benevolent in press releases and then fight tooth and nail in court trying to achieve whatever outcome makes them the most money, no matter how sordid it is.

And don’t even get me started on how many of their executives and board members (including Tim Cook) are also board members of lobbying organizations that fight against basically everything Apple claims to stand for (including legislation intended to tackle climate change).

I love their products, and there are a lot of truly good people at the company. But this apple is growing more and more rotten at its core, and they are sorely mistaken if they think that we, their customers, don’t notice.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Victor Mortimer Avatar
45 months ago

Typo in the third word, @Hartley
That's not a typo. That just means Apple's lawyers were working from home, and as is the fashion these days, not bothering putting on pants, thus taking the action in their underwear. And when it's used in a compound word like that, "undies" loses the "i". Thus you get the word "undetaking".
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
44 months ago
So not when a corrupt Russian government imposes restrictions that threaten the social and civil liberties of Russian citizens, but only when that same corrupt government threatens Apple's revenue that it finally says something.
Ya paying attention, folks? It's a company, not a cult. Stop defending it when it does wrong.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)