Africa
Big Tech gatekeepers’ restrictive app store policies face increasing regulatory and legislative scrutiny around the world — including in South Africa.
Click on the blue square below to see how regulators and policymakers in South Africa are standing up for consumers and holding app store gatekeepers accountable.
South Africa
In July 2023, the Competition Commission (CompCom) of South Africa issued their final report on its Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry, which found that Apple and Google are limiting competition through their app store fees and policies. In the report, CompCom found that companies like Apple and Google use features in their respective app stores that “result in a bifurcated market with one or two scaled platforms that influence both platform and business user competition.” The report called for specific remedies, including an end to all anti-steering rules. This report builds on the commission’s 2022 provisional report, which found that Apple and Google, among other tech companies, have unfair advantages as market leaders and use that advantage to operate in ways that impede competition.
South Africa
In July 2022 the Competition Commission of South Africa issued the provisional report of its Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry, which found Apple and Google to be among a handful of tech companies that have unfair advantages as market leaders and use that advantage to operate in ways that impede competition. In the report, CompCom found, “A lack of competition has resulted in excessive commission fees to the detriment of South African app developers, publishers and consumers of apps acquired through the SA storefront requiring in-app.” The report’s provisional recommendations called for price regulation or an end to self-preferencing behaviors. CompCom is expected to issue a final report in late 2022.