Big tech companies are once again under scrutiny.

Recently, India's competition regulatory authority issued a final warning to Apple. If it weren't for the company's delays over a year in responding to officials' inquiries, which slowed down the investigation, the situation might not have escalated to this point. If the case proceeds to an antitrust lawsuit, the consequences could be severe—according to the investigation, Apple has engaged in abuse of market dominance in its app store. Based on global revenue calculations for fines, Apple could face a hefty penalty of up to $38 billion.

Of course, Apple denies these allegations. They have filed a lawsuit in Indian courts challenging the fairness of this fine regulation, and the case is currently under review.

What does this case illustrate? No matter how influential you are in the market, regulatory agencies in more and more countries are cracking down on monopolistic practices. For any tech company wielding core platform power, balancing business interests and regulatory compliance worldwide has become an unavoidable challenge.