Kaspersky Lab hits Apple with antitrust complaint, accuses tech giant of muscling out competition

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple, alleging that the tech giant removed Kaspersky’s ‘safe kids’ app from the Apple Store to make way for its own rival product.

The Russian firm claims in its suit that Apple removed its ‘Safe Kids’ app from the online marketplace, ostensibly for a configuration violation but in reality to eliminate competition to its own ‘Screen Time’ feature. Both apps allow parents to monitor and control their children’s device usage and to restrict inappropriate content.

“From our point of view, Apple appears to be using its position as platform owner...to dictate terms and prevent other developers from operating on equal terms with it,” a spokesperson told WinBuzzer.

Unlike Android, Apple’s iOS does not allow users to install apps from any source other than the Apple Store. Kaspersky claims this grants the company unfair power to push its own apps on users.

Music streaming app Spotify filed a similar complaint against Apple with the European Commission earlier this month. Apple applies a 30 percent tax on purchases made through its payment system, including subscription to Spotify’s premium service. Paying this tax would force Spotify to up its prices, while refusing to pay would see Spotify locked out of Apple services like Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch.

In either case, the company’s own Apple Music service comes out on top.

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