Apple fined another 5 million euros over its Dutch App Store payments

What you need to know

Apple has been hit by another five million euro fine in the Netherlands.
Requirements to allow third-party payments for dating apps have so far not been met.
Apple has announced plans to charge 27% tax on all charges made via third-party services.

And it’ll probably happen next week, too.

Apple has again been fined a further five million euros over its ongoing spat over whether Dutch dating apps should be allowed to use third-party payment systems in apps distributed via the App Store.

While Apple has begun to put the wheels in motion to allow Dutch dating apps to use third-party payment systems, the way it’s doing it continues to rub Dutch antitrust regulators the wrong way. The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has been hitting Apple with a five million euro — or around $5.7 million — fine each week since the original January 15 deadline was broken. Apple was ordered to allow third-party payments and has so far not managed to do so.

Reuters writes:

The Dutch antitrust watchdog fined Apple 5 million euros ($5.7 million) on Monday, its fourth such fine for failing to allow software application makers in the Netherlands to use non-Apple payment methods for dating apps on the App Store.

The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has been levying weekly fines of 5 million euros on Apple since the company missed a Jan. 15 deadline to make changes ordered by the watchdog.

Apple has already outlined new developer requirements that would have payments hit by a 27% tax even when handled outside the App Store. Apple has also offered up plans to allow developers the APIs required to make this happen — but none of it is happening quickly.

Developers and Apple watchers alike have railed against Apple’s 27% cut with one developer calling it “absolutely vile.”