'Fortnite' owner accuses Apple of lobbying the Trump administration to harm Brazil

The executive, founder of the developer of the popular game "Fortnite", says that "Apple is trying to destroy good relations between our countries to preserve its ability to continue violating the law and charging illegal fees" in a virtual press conference for Brazilian journalists.

In the report, Apple states that Sweeney and Epic's statements are false and says it continues to work to support Brazilian developers. It cites an agreement with Cade to offer reduced commissions and openness to other forms of payment and application distribution, and highlights working with regulatory bodies in Brazil to preserve important safeguards in the digital environment.

"Apple is violating the law in Brazil, and its allies in the United States government, particularly the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), are constantly threatening all of these important international partners."

The USTR is the US government body that suggested to President Donald Trump the application of the last two waves of tariffs to Brazilian products, which could reach up to 37.5%. The tariff that came into effect on the 22nd, for example, was applied under the justification of punishing Brazilian practices related to digital commerce and payment services, among others.

"This is very worrying and represents a threat to democracy in the United States, Brazil and Europe. Apple has acted extremely brazenly and without any embarrassment in this regard. We hope that, one day, it will be held accountable. It is shameful that an American company interferes in good international relations in this way", said Sweeney.

Epic Games is fighting a long legal battle with Apple in the United States and with regulatory bodies in several countries, to combat fees considered abusive in its virtual store and open the operating system of its devices to competitors.

Supported by Cade's decision from December last year, Epic Games launches its own virtual store for iPhones this Thursday (30). However, Sweeney claims that Apple continues to impose a series of illegal obstacles to prevent fair competition.

Among the measures are the imposition of a series of fees for transactions made outside the App Store. According to the CEO of Epic Games, Apple charges a 21% fee on any purchase that uses a third-party payment system, 15% on purchases made on the internet that originated from an iOS app and 5% on revenue from any virtual store installed on devices manufactured by it.

"Common payment services charge fees of 2% or 3%. This is the real cost of processing payments. Apple more than doubles that amount and charges a fee without doing anything at all," says Sweeney.

Furthermore, he accuses the company of creating unnecessary obstacles to prevent users from installing external stores on their phones. According to Epic Games, it takes nine steps to install an application on Apple devices in Brazil, while in Europe the European Digital Markets Act reduced this process to six steps. Similar legislation is being discussed in the National Congress, but faces strong resistance from big tech.

"Apple has the best interface designers in the world. When Apple wants to create a great interface, it does so with enormous success. So when you see Apple create a bad interface, you know it's intentional and that it serves the company's business interests rather than any legitimate reason," says Sweeney.

Another point criticized by the executive is the impossibility of downloading the application from the Epic Games virtual store on iPads. According to the executive, the company adopted a similar block in the European market, but was forced to allow third-party stores on these devices as well.

The Epic Games virtual store reaches iOS devices with only two games for sale in Brazil: "Rocket League Sideswipe" and "Fortnite", both developed by the company itself. According to Sweeney, the absence of games from other developers is also the result of Apple's actions to undermine competition.

"Apple requires developers to install a type of 'spyware' [spy program], which sends back to the company all information about commercial transactions carried out in third-party stores. First, integrating this 'spyware' into the application is a lot of work, so many developers simply don't want to do it. Second, many have a moral objection to allowing Apple to monitor transactions between them and their customers," he says.

The owner of the iPhone claims that the use of the term "spyware" is incorrect – the company requires accurate reports of sales that generate payments for the use of technologies in third-party payments. The demand applies to both applications in the official store and those distributed alternatively.

The executive says that Epic Games will activate Cade to try to remove the obstacles imposed by Apple on external app stores, measures that the company considers anti-competitive.

Currently, the Epic Games Store is available worldwide on Android devices and, on iOS devices, only in Europe, Japan and, now, in Brazil - places where authorities have forced Apple to open the operating system to third-party stores.

According to the company, even with all the barriers, the Epic Games Store has been installed 50 million times on mobile devices since its launch.