Apple is about to face more scrutiny from European regulators about whether or not the tech titan asked online sales companies to use Apple Pay rather than rival payment services.
That is according to an EU document seen by Reuters. The news agency revealed that the European Commission had sent out a questionnaire in August, alleging Apple may have restricted online payments through other apps.
If true, that would be a breach of the EU’s antitrust rules.
The questionnaire asked companies if they were contractually obliged to enable certain payment methods and if there were any conditions for integrating Apple Pay.
The regulators reportedly wanted to find out whether or not Apple had rejected apps because they would not be compatible with integrating Apple Pay.
Apple responded to Reuters that its systems was very secure, which is why many banks were using it. “iPhone has completely transformed mobile payments by providing customers with a choice of how to pay including cash, credit card and debit card, as well using apps from the major banks and financial institutions,” the company said.
This is not the first time that Apple has found itself in hot waters with EU regulators.
Earlier this year, Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft all found themselves asking questions about data privacy after it was revealed they had all used human workers to listen in on people’s conversations.
Apple is one out of several tech giants that have ventured into the FinTech space recently. Uber, Google, Amazon, Alibaba and Facebook have all made several steps over the past few years, leading to concerns about what that will mean for both new startups and the incumbents in the FinTech sector.
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