Apple has filed an appeal with the Brazilian regulator Cade against a lawsuit accusing the App Store of having anti-steering rules, reports MacMagazine. And according to a new Valor Econômico report, a Brazilian Federal Court judge has ruled that the decision by Cade, the Brazilian regulator, is “disproportionate and unnecessary.”
Last month Cade said Apple must lift restrictions on payment methods for in-app purchases, among other things, as the watchdog group moved to proceed with an investigation into a complaint filed by MercadoLibre, one of the most popular online marketplaces in Latin America,
MercadoLibre’s complaint, filed in 2022 in Brazil and Mexico, accuses Apple of imposing a series of restrictions on the distribution of digital goods and in-app purchases, including banning apps from distributing third-party digital goods and services such as movies, music, video games, books and written content.
Cade has ruled that Apple must allow app developers to add tools so customers can buy their services or products outside the app, such as through the use of hyperlinks to external websites. Another preventive measure is that Apple must allow app developers to offer other in-app payment processing options apart from the one owned by Apple, according to Reuters..
In its challenge, Apple argued that the measure “drastically threatens” the security and privacy of iOS and said there is no “any legal justification” for the App Store business model to be changed. The company also called the fine a “completely unreasonable and disproportionate punishment”, and said that Cade used “unprecedented” arguments to open this investigation.
“[Cade’s decision] destabilizes a global business model that has been applied for at least 15 years without any competitive questioning in Brazil,” Apple said.
This is just the latest of Apple’s woes in Brazil. In March 2021, the Brazil’s consumer protection foundation, Procon has filed Apple R$ 10,546,442.48 (approximately $1.9 million) for selling iPhones without a charger. In July 2022, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon were accused of buying gold illegally mined in Brazil.
