Science and Tech

Brazil, the country from which Mexico can learn to confront Big Tech

Brazil, the country from which Mexico can learn to confront Big Tech

The complaint is similar to the one that Epic Games initiated against Apple and Google in the United States, in which it accused both technology companies of abusive practices, by preventing third-party app stores from selling their products or users from purchasing them from through external websites.

With this decision by CADE, Apple must now allow application developers to add tools for customers to purchase their services or products outside of the application, through the use of hyperlinks on external websites.

Another preventive measure is that Apple must allow app developers to offer other in-app payment processing options in addition to the one Apple has, the regulator added.

Apple will have 20 days to comply with the measures, CADE said. If you do not comply with the requirements, the Council will impose a fine of 250,000 reais (around $43,000) per day.

Mexico lagging behind Brazil

These actions by the Brazilian government sets a precedent at the regional level around technology companies that not even Mexico has adopted. It is worth mentioning that the case of Mercado Libre also applied to the national market and the regulatory authorities have not given a response in this regard.

In fact, in February of this year, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) began a process against Amazon and Mercado Libre in which it asked the companies to disassociate their streaming services from their loyalty programs. That is, companies should not offer Prime Video or Meli+, respectively, with the contracting of their subscription services.

However, from the beginning of the case, close sources told this media that the opinion lacked support to determine that the union of the streaming service with loyalty programs generates barriers to competition, and in its case the investigation will only result in damages. direct to consumers.

The case was stopped and now the uncertainty regarding what could happen is greater, due to the imminent disappearance of Cofece. Expansión reported that as part of the disappearance of autonomous organizations, two decentralized entities will be created to attend to the functions of the Commission and the IFT.

According to specialists, the regulatory powers of Cofece would be transferred to a decentralized body of the Ministry of Economy and although they could maintain independent management, there is the risk of a gap around technical specialization.

Brazil, an example for Latin America

In addition to the case around Mercado Libre and Apple, Brazil has had other relevant cases in the technological panorama. The most recent was that of X, a platform that was banned in the country due to the distribution of hate content.

Although the social network became accessible again in October, this only happened after the platform complied with the orders of the Supreme Court of Brazil, which required the deletion of certain accounts, in addition to the payment of fines and the appointment of a new representative in the nation. .

However, this is not the only representative case. In 2022, the Brazilian Department of Consumer Protection and Defense prohibited Apple from continuing to sell the iPhone without a charger, in addition to imposing a fine of 12.2 million reais (approximately $3 million) for damages to consumers.



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