Russian Regulator Says HeadHunter Violated Antitrust Laws

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced that it decided job board operator HeadHunter violated competition law by prohibiting its customers from working with Russian startup Stafory which operates the Vera robot, an automated recruitment software, reported Kommersant.

In April 2019, the FAS opened its case against HeadHunter and two other job boards. It stated the terms of use for the three job boards’ services contained clauses banning the use of automated recruitment software when working with the firms. It has since dropped the cases against two of the other firms finding no violations from either.

The decision came after a nine-month trial which saw an order issued to HeadHunter to stop creating obstacles for Stafory to enter the market. According to the decision, HeadHunter blocked employees of companies that used the Vera robot, citing usage rules prohibiting customers from using third-party software, instead offering its own service with similar functionality. Stafory called the decision “fair.” Meanwhile HeadHunter stated the decision does not require them to make changes to the terms of use of the product or application programming interface and added that it is obliged to consider, in a “fair and non-discriminatory manner,” Stafory applications.

Full Content: Staffing Industry

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