EU fines Apple €1.84bn for violating antitrust rules streaming services
The European Union has fined Apple €1.84 billion for violating antitrust rules in the music streaming services market. Apple was fined for not wanting to inform consumers about cheaper subscription models outside the App Store.
Just last month, the Financial Times reported that the European Commission would like to fine Apple €500 million, making the current penalty more than three times than expected.
The EU received complaints from Spotify in 2019 over Spotify’s mandatory 30% commission to Apple and its failure to allow alternative payment options.
The penalty follows an antitrust complaint by Spotify in March 2019. In June 2020, the EU announced a formal antitrust investigation into the App Store.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy said: “For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store. They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules, so today we have fined Apple over €1.8 billion.”
The EU wants other music streaming services to stop being restricted from referring to other payment methods, such as through their own websites. In the Netherlands, dating apps in the App Store are allowed to refer to other payment systems, under pressure from regulator ACM.
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