ReportWire

Tag: app stores

  • Apple will allow third-party app stores and payment processing in Brazil

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    Brazilian regulators have with Apple after a yearslong investigation into the company’s App Store fee practices as well as its policies against third-party app stores. As first reported by Brazilian tech site , the nation’s Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE) said it has accepted Apple’s proposed agreement that will address claims of anticompetitive practices.

    The agreement will allow for third-party payment processing methods for in-app purchases and reins in Apple’s anti-steering efforts by allowing links to external websites for transactions. The settlement requires that these payment options be shown next to Apple’s own. Apple must also allow third-party app stores to be installed on its devices, though the company is allowed to display warnings to users if they are written in a neutral and objective way.

    A new fee structure has also been agreed to, with Apple applying no fee if users are directed to outside payment methods in a text-only way. The use of a clickable link or button for an external payment option will incur a 15 percent fee. Purchases made within Apple’s App Store will still be subject to a 10 percent or 20 percent commission. Developers using Apple’s payment system would also be subject to a 5 percent transaction fee.

    Additionally a 5 percent “Core Technology Fee” would be levied against all app downloads from third-party app stores. This new structure bears similarities to policy and fee after the EU passed its Digital Markets Act, with Apple allowing third-party app stores and external purchases subject to varying fees.

    Apple will have 105 days to comply under the new agreement and could face fines of up to $27 million for failure to implement the changes. The iPhone maker has been facing mounting pressure from regulators worldwide over its anti-steering practices and was recently handed a $587 million fine by the EU for violating its Digital Markets Act. Apple is the fine. In the US, Apple has been embroiled in a court battle with Fortnite maker over commissions on purchases that take place on third-party payment platforms.

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    Andre Revilla

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  • Texas hit with a pair of lawsuits for its app store age verification requirements

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    Texas could have a serious legal battle on its hands thanks to an age verification law for app stores that it recently enacted. In response to the Texas App Store Accountability Act, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) filed a lawsuit that argues the new order goes against First Amendment rights. The not-for-profit trade association has Amazon, Apple and Google amongst its members.

    The law goes into effect on New Year’s Day and requires app store users to verify their age before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. If underage, users have to get parental consent each time they want to download an app or make another in-app purchase. Along with those stipulations, the suit claims that there’s an additional burden on developers, who have to “age-rate” their apps for different age groups.

    “This Texas law violates the First Amendment by restricting app stores from offering lawful content, preventing users from seeing that content, and compelling app developers to speak of their offerings in a way pleasing to the state,” Stephanie Joyce, senior vice president and chief of staff for the CCIA, said in a press release.

    Along with CCIA, a student advocacy group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) filed a similar lawsuit objecting to Texas’ upcoming app store requirements. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, the firm representing SEAT and the two high school students named in the lawsuit, said the law “violates the First Amendment by imposing sweeping restrictions on access to protected speech and information.” The law firm also noted the potential dangers associated with collecting personal information, like government IDs, when it comes to verifying identity.

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    Jackson Chen

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  • California enacts age-gate law for app stores

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    California has become the latest state to age-gate app stores and operating systems. AB 1043 is one of several internet regulation bills that Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Monday, including ones related to social media warning labels, chatbots and deepfake pornography. 

    The State Assembly passed AB 1043 with a 58-0 vote in September. The legislation received backing from notable tech companies such as Google, OpenAI, Meta, Snap and Pinterest. The companies claimed the bill offered a more balanced approach to age verification, with more privacy protection, than laws passed in other states.

    Unlike with legislation in Utah and Texas, children will still be able to download apps without their parents’ consent. The law doesn’t require people to upload photo IDs either. Instead, the idea is that a parent will enter their child’s age while setting up a device for them — so it’s more of an age gate than age verification. The operating system and/or app store will place the user into one of four age categories (under 13, 13-16, 16-18 or adult) and make that information available to app developers. 

    Enacting AB 1043 means that California is joining the likes of Utah, Texas and Louisiana in mandating that app stores carry out age verification (the UK has a broad age verification law in place too). Apple has detailed how it plans to comply with the Texas law, which takes effect on January 1, 2026. The California legislation takes effect one year later.

    AB 56, another bill Newsom signed Monday, will force social media services to display warning labels that inform kids and teens about the risks of using such platforms. These messages will appear the first time the user opens an app each day, then after three hours of total use and once an hour thereafter. This law will take effect on January 1, 2027 as well.

    Elsewhere, California will require AI chatbots to have guardrails in place to prevent self-harm content from appearing and direct users who express suicidal ideation to crisis services. Platforms will need to inform the Department of Public Health about how they’re addressing self-harm and to share details on how often they display crisis center prevention notifications.

    The legislation is coming into force after lawsuits were filed against OpenAI and Character AI in relation to teen suicides. OpenAI last month announced plans to automatically identify teen ChatGPT users and restrict their usage of the chatbot.

    In addition, SB 243 prohibits chatbots from being marketed as health care professionals. Chatbots will need to make it clear to users that they aren’t interacting with a person when they’re using such services, and instead they’re receiving artificially generated responses. Chatbot providers will need to remind minors of this at least every three hours. 

    Newsom also signed a bill concerning deepfake pornography into law. AB 621 includes steeper potential penalties for “third parties who knowingly facilitate or aid in the distribution of nonconsensual sexually explicit material.” The legislation allows victims to seek up to $250,000 per “malicious violation” of the law.

    In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), CONNECT to 686868 (Canada) or SHOUT to 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

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  • Apple Could Be the First Target of Europe’s Tough New Tech Law

    Apple Could Be the First Target of Europe’s Tough New Tech Law

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    Europe changed the rules of the internet this week when the Digital Markets Act took effect, holding the biggest tech companies to tough new standards. Now the world is waiting to see which giant will be first to fall foul of the law. One of the architects of the DMA says Apple is a strong candidate for the first formal investigation, describing the company as “low hanging fruit.”

    Apple has faced intensifying pressure in recent years from competitors, regulators, and courts in both Europe and the US, over the restrictions it places on app-makers who must rely on its App Store to reach millions of users. Yesterday Apple terminated the developer account of Fornite publisher Epic Games which has challenged the company in US courts and recently announced its intention to launch a rival to the Apple App Store.

    German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations that finalized the DMA on behalf of the EU Parliament, says that makes Apple a likely first target for non-compliance. “[This] gives me a very clear expectation that they want to be the first,” he tells WIRED. “Apple’s approach is a bit weird on all this and therefore it’s low hanging fruit.”

    Schwab is not involved in enforcement of the DMA. That’s overseen by the European Commission, which has already demanded “further explanation” as to why Apple terminated Epic’s account and is evaluating whether this violates the DMA.

    “Apple’s approach to the Digital Markets Act was guided by two simple goals: complying with the law and reducing the inevitable, increased risks the DMA creates for our EU users,” says the company in a statement sent to WIRED by Apple spokesperson Rob Saunders. Apple has said on its website that alternative app stores carry the risk of malware, illicit code and other harmful content.

    The DMA’s rules that aim to “break open” tech platforms require Apple to allow iPhone users to download apps from places other than Apples’ official App Store. The Epic Games Store, announced in January, intended to be launched by the Fortnite-maker Epic, would have been the first alternative app store to take advantage of the new system.

    Apple tells WIRED it had the right to terminate Epic’s accounts according to a 2021 California court ruling. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been a vocal critic of what he styles as Apple’s “app store monopoly” for years, although in January the US supreme court denied a request to hear the latest episode in a lengthy antitrust dispute between the two companies in a victory for the smartphone maker.

    The DMA went into force at midnight on March 7 in Brussels—3 pm in Silicon Valley. From that moment, six of the world’s biggest tech companies—Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and TikTok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance—must comply with a suite of new rules designed to improve competition in digital markets.

    In addition to Apple having to allow outside apps, Microsoft Windows will no longer have Microsoft-owned Bing as its default search tool; users of Meta’sWhatsApp will be able to communicate with people on rival messaging apps; and Google and Amazon will have to tweak their search results to create more room for rivals. Companies that don’t comply with the new rules can be fined up to 20 percent of their global turnover.

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    Morgan Meaker

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  • Apple Fined $2 Billion as Europe Sides With Spotify

    Apple Fined $2 Billion as Europe Sides With Spotify

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    Apple has a Spotify problem—and it just cost the iPhone maker a $2 billion fine from the European Commission.

    For years, the two companies have been at war as the streaming service lured users away from Apple’s iTunes and accused the tech giant of exploiting its dominance to stifle innovation. In their long-running conflict, each has made incursions into the other’s territory. When Apple launched its own streaming service, Apple Music, in 2015, Spotify claimed Apple was able to undercut the platform’s prices because Apple didn’t have to pay the same App Store fees as rivals. In 2019, Spotify began an ambitious podcast spending spree, splashing out on high-profile shows, in another direct challenge to Apple.

    The feud’s early days were civil, with few barbs traded in public. “We worry about the humanity being drained out of music,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2018, a cryptic comment widely interpreted as a jibe at Spotify’s heavy use of algorithmic recommendations. But Spotify became more outspoken as EU politicians started to call for laws to reign in Big Tech. The €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) fine on Apple announced by the European Commission today shows that its tactics are working.

    The fine originates in a legal complaint filed with the European Commission by Spotify in 2019, challenging the restrictions and fees Apple places on developers listing their apps in the App Store. Today the European Commission agreed, saying that Apple’s App Store restrictions amount to unfair trading conditions that may have led iOS users to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions.

    “For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, in a statement. “They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem.”

    Apple’s App Store rules restrict music streaming companies and other apps from informing their users on Apple devices about how to upgrade or sign up for subscription offers outside of the app. Instead, app users can only see sign-up options for in-app subscriptions via Apple’s payments system, where prices are likely to be higher because Apple takes a cut. Some app makers, including Spotify, do not offer in-app purchases because they don’t want to pay this commission. “Some consumers may have paid more because they were unaware they could pay less if they subscribed outside the app,” Vestager said. “This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.” Apple, which says the EU has failed to provide credible evidence of consumer harm, has pledged to appeal.

    Big Number

    The fine is far bigger than expected, prompting Apple’s stock to drop 3 percent on Monday. Media reports based on unnamed sources had predicted a penalty of around €500 million. It’s also one of the biggest fines the EU has ever issued against a tech company, ranking below only two Google fines of $5.1 billion and $2.4 billion. Vestager explained in a press conference that the scale of the fine is intended to prevent the company from breaking rules in the future. She added that the amount includes a “lump sum” to “achieve deterrence.” $1.9 billion amounts to 0.5 percent of Apple’s global turnover, she said.

    Although Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has expressed disapproval of Apple’s business tactics, he’s also something of a reluctant figurehead in Europe’s fight against Apple. The self-described introvert has adopted the role of spokesperson for disgruntled European app developers who finally feel their complaints about Big Tech are being heard.

    On Monday, Ek posted a video on X in which he described Apple as a threat to the open internet. “Apple has decided that they want to close down the internet and make it theirs, and they view every single person using an iPhone to be their user and that they should be able to dictate what that user experience should be,” he said. Ek also claimed Apple wants to effectively levy a tax on Spotify while exempting its own music service, Apple Music.

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    Morgan Meaker

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