Russia’s anti-monopoly watchdog investigating Apple

Apple is being investigated in Russia due to a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab and is accused of abusing its position atop the market to box out competitors.

Reuters reports that Russia’s anti-monopoly watchdog, which launched the probe on Thursday, said it is investigating why Apple denied Kaspersky Lab’s application called Safe Kids, a parental control app. Kaspersky claimed the move caused a significant reduction in its product’s functionality, the news service added.

{mosads}Kaspersky Lab reportedly noted that Apple had released an updated version of its own parental control app, Screen time, which it said had similar functions to Safe Kids. Both apps give parents control over their children’s phone and tablet usage. 

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The tech giant pointed Reuters to an April 28 statement in which it said it had taken several parental control apps off of the App Store because they “put users’ privacy and security at risk,” adding that several apps used a “highly invasive” technology that violated its policies. 

Kaspersky says the App Store’s guidelines allowed for a limited use of the technology but that it is unclear how to get Apple’s permission to do so, adding that the move curtails the competitiveness of third-party products.