Match Group's Complaint About Google Play Store Triggered An Antitrust Investigation In The Netherlands

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The Dutch consumer and market authority (ACM) said today that the match group, which owns tinder and some other dating apps, filed a competition complaint against the Google play store, triggering the Dutch consumer and market authority to conduct a preliminary investigation into whether the technology giant abused its dominant position**

Match declined to comment on the content of its complaint - but ACM confirmed that it had received "law enforcement requirements for 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. In addition, dating apps claim that they are no longer allowed to mention other payment methods," ACM said in a brief press statement. "The dating application provider [match group ] asked ACM to assess whether Google abused its dominance with these practices. Therefore, ACM will conduct a preliminary investigation based on this request.".

Regulators declined to answer questions about the complaint.

In a subsequent statement, a Google spokesman said:

Like all enterprises, Google charges for services, but match group's applications are eligible to pay only 15% of the digital subscription fee on Google play, the lowest rate among major application platforms. However, even if they do not want to comply with Google play's policy, the Android system still provides them with a variety of ways to distribute their apps to Android users, including through other android app stores, directly to users through their websites, or as pure consumer apps.

ACM and IOS manufacturer Apple The company's lengthy battle over its app store's payment rules for local dating apps led ACM to order apple to allow alternative payment processing services for dating apps and issue a series of fines because regulators ruled that Apple had failed to comply with the order.

By the end of March, the fine had reached the maximum allowed by the relevant court order - 50 million euros. However, according to Reuters, regulators have decided that Apple's offer still does not comply with its order. ACM is preparing to issue a new order and ask apple to pay a new fine.

The law enforcement tug of war between ACM and apple has attracted great attention from the European Commission. Margrethe vestager, executive vice president, attacked apple for choosing to pay fines rather than comply with the regulations in his speech in February.

This is noteworthy because the European Commission itself will be responsible for implementing a new ex ante competition system for the most powerful technology giants, which will enter into force within the EU later this year.

In March, the group's lawmakers agreed to the final details of the digital market act (DMA) - consolidating a system that will enforce a set of operating rules for so-called "Internet gatekeepers", which will reduce apple and Google's micro management ability for business users to operate in their app stores.

According to the forthcoming pan EU regulation, the penalty for gatekeepers who fail to comply with the previous obligations of the regulation can be as high as 10% of the global annual turnover. This means that compared with traditional "ex post" competitive interventions, DMA execution may be faster and more difficult to be ignored by large companies.

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