The Dutch consumer watchdog said on Wednesday that it has launched an initial investigation into Google regarding its Play store for apps months after it targeted Apple.
The Match Group, which owns the dating website Tinder, has filed with the authorities.
It was because Google only permitted its system of payment to be utilized for buying apps that it owned, The Authority for Consumers and Markets stated.
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The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) announced on Wednesday an investigation preliminary into Alphabet Inc.'s Google for unfair practices that could harm competition in their Play store.
Tinder's owner, Match Group, had asked the regulator to investigate whether Google is exploiting its leading position in the market for dating apps.
"Dating-app providers allegedly are no longer able to use a payment system other than Google's payment system," ACM spokesperson Murco Mijnlieff told me via email.
In the response, Google stated that a Google spokesperson stated that Google charges users a 15% commission on subscriptions through Google Play. The company claimed it was "the lowest rate among major app platforms."
It was stated that app distributors could be able to avoid Google Play entirely by distributing their apps on other websites or stores.
The Dutch ACM has been locked in a dispute for two years against Google competitor Apple over alternatives to payments for dating apps available on the App Store.
Apple has been awarded the sum of 50 million euros in penalties, the highest amount that could be imposed under a ruling by a judge in the event of an inability to comply with an ACM order that makes it an option for apps to provide customers with other payment options that are not Apple.
On Monday, the ACM announced that the latest suggestions made by Apple to correct the problem that was announced on March 30 weren't enough, and the company is currently making a fresh order with new penalties for payment.
"Once we've published this order, subject to periodic penalties, we will then be able to provide comments on the content of this order and also on the specific areas in which Apple is in violation." "This could take a couple of months," ACM says.
Apple has indicated that it believes it has sufficiently complied with the ACM's directives and has declined to provide additional comments.
