European Union imposed its first-ever antitrust fine of over 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) on Tech giant Apple Monday for preventing Spotify and other music streaming services from informing users of payment options outside its App Store, Reuters reported.
The European Commission’s decision, prompted by a 2019 complaint from Spotify, deemed Apple’s actions as creating unfair trading conditions, supported by the argument that restricting such information violates EU antitrust rules.
The EU competition enforcer justified the substantial fine by deeming Apple’s conduct as causing harm beyond monetary considerations.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust chief, said: “For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store.”
She emphasised that Apple’s restrictions impeded developers from informing consumers about alternative, more cost-effective music services outside the Apple ecosystem.
In response, Apple criticised the decision, vowing to challenge it in court. The company argued that the Commission failed to uncover credible evidence of consumer harm and disregarded the thriving, competitive nature of the market.
Apple’s primary contention focused on the perceived beneficiary of the decision being Spotify, a company based in Sweden that pays no commission to Apple.
The EU’s order to Apple to remove App Store restrictions aligns with the upcoming Digital Markets Act (DMA) requirements, effective on March 7. Despite the historic nature of the fine, it amounts to about a quarter of the penalties previously imposed on Google by the EU in the past decade.
Apple is concurrently attempting to settle another EU antitrust investigation by proposing openness in its tap-and-go mobile payment systems to competitors, a move expected to be accepted without additional fines.
