Encrypted Messaging App Telegram Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple With EU

Apple is facing another antitrust complaint in Europe, this time from the developers of encrypted messaging app Telegram.

In a complaint to the EU Commission, the app's creators argue that Apple must give iOS users the opportunity to download software outside of the App Store. The Financial Times reports:

In a complaint to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager, Telegram, which has more than 400m users, said Apple must "allow users to have the opportunity of downloading software outside of the App Store".

According to the paywalled report, Telegram's complaint recounts how in 2016 it was prevented from launching a gaming platform on the ‌App Store‌ because it was deemed to violate Apple's rules. Telegram subsequently dismantled the venture to avoid "being deleted from the ‌App Store‌," and claimed that it was "an example of Apple's capacity to curb innovation thanks to its 'monpolistic power' on the app market."

The complaint follows a blog post earlier this week by Telegram founder Pavel Durov in which he takes Apple to task and lists seven "myths" that the company uses to justify its 30 percent commission on apps hosted in the ‌App Store‌.

Telegram is the third company after Spotify and Rakuten to formally complain to the EU Commission, which is already conducting two investigations into Apple's ‌App Store‌ and Apple Pay.

This antitrust complaint is separate to the ongoing U.S. antitrust current investigation. On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's ‌App Store‌ policies in a congressional hearing.