France is threatening to take legal action against Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc for ‘abusive commercial practices’, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
Accusing the internet giants of taking advantage of French developers, Le Maire said, “I learned that when developers develop their applications and sell to Google and Apple, their prices are imposed, Google and Apple take all their data, Google and Apple can unilaterally rewrite their contracts.”
While strongly objecting to the business practices of the American tech giants and terming them “unacceptable”, Le Maire said on RTL radio, that, “It’s not the economy that we want. They can’t treat our startups and developers the way they do.”
Warning the iPhone maker and the Search engine giant, Le Maire thundered that the fines could result in penalties reaching several million euros.
Image credit: Apple
Warning the iPhone maker and the Search engine giant, the French Finance Minister thundered that the fines could result in penalties reaching several million euros. "My responsibility is to ensure economic law and order," Le Maire noted. "There are rules. There is justice. It should be respected."
For those unaware, Le Parisien – a French daily reported last December that the finance ministry was seeking to fine Amazon €10 million. Interestingly, the move comes against the American multinational conglomerates in the wake of US President Donald Trump aiming to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% tariff on imports of aluminum.
Tech start-ups are a favorite of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought to overhaul the nation's laws and regulations to allow entrepreneurs to flourish. Representatives for Apple and Google couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
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