Brazil's Antitrust Watchdog Launches Investigation into Alleged Apple Monopoly

JAKARTA - Brazilian antitrust watchdog, CADE, has started investigating a complaint by e-commerce retailer MercadoLibre Inc against Apple Inc over alleged abuse of its monopoly in the distribution of applications for its devices. This was said by the antitrust regulator on Wednesday, January 18.

"The decision to open an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Apple was taken last week based on a complaint filed in December 2022 by MercadoLibre," CADE said in a statement.

"Similar investigations are being carried out by antitrust authorities in other jurisdictions," the watchdog said.

MercadoLibre contends that Apple has imposed a series of restrictions on the distribution of digital goods and purchases within their app, the App Store.

The South American company criticized the California-based tech giant for requiring developers offering digital goods or services within apps to use Apple's own payment system and stopping them from redirecting buyers to the websites of sellers or developers themselves.

MercadoLibre has filed a complaint against Appl's behavior in Brazil as well as Mexico.

While Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Apple's policies have been challenged in almost every corner of the world over the last few years.

In a US court hearing on similar charges, a judge found that Apple did not violate antitrust laws in part because its rules lead to security benefits for users that outweigh the disadvantages for app makers. But the ruling is currently being appealed and a global resolution of the matter appears to be a long way off.

CADE said antitrust cases against Apple are ongoing around the world, including in the European Union, Britain, South Korea, Japan, India and Indonesia. Even in South Korea, Apple was decided to lose in such a lawsuit.

Nasdaq-listed MercadoLibre is one of the largest companies in Latin America, with a market capitalization of USD 53.82 billion (IDR 813.4 trillion), according to Refinitiv data.