The EU fines Apple €1.8 billion for hindering competition for its music service

The European Union Antitrust Commission has decided to impose a record fine of 1.8 billion euros to Apple for violations of competition rules with music streaming services.

The Executive announced this in a note and specifies that the decision is based on “unfair commercial conditions” practiced by the group.

According to what emerged from the investigation, he explains, Apple prevents developers of music streaming applications can inform iPhone and iPad users on alternative and cheaper music streaming services.

The investigation began following a complaint from Spotify. The figure is significantly higher than the press rumors which spoke of a fine of 500 million.

The antitrust decision “was made despite the Commission’s failure to uncover credible evidence of consumer harm and ignores the reality of a thriving market, competitive and rapidly growing“Apple defended itself in a statement.

“Abuse of dominant position” and the war with Spotify

“The main supporter of this decision, and the biggest beneficiary, is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify has the largest music streaming application in the world and has met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation,” completed the tech company’s message.

“For decades, Apple has abused its dominant position in the music market streaming via your App Store“, warned the vice-president of the Community Executive responsible for competition, Margrethe Vestager, in a press conference to announce the sanction.

The Danish policy claims that preventing developers from informing consumers about “alternative and cheaper offers available outside the Apple ecosystem” is not only “illegal”, but impacts “millions of European consumers” who are not in able to “freely choose” which services to offer and hire.

The case dates back to 2022, when Brussels accused the company of acting as a “gatekeeper” of access to applications and abusing a dominant position in the music streaming distribution market. Starting March 7, Apple and other big tech companies will too They must comply with new EU regulations, the Digital Markets Act, to open their services.

Apple said last January that it would change its billing terms and allow alternative app stores on its devices for the first time. Spotify and others have criticized the changes as meaningless.

The company argued that changing the terms and conditions would only cement Spotify as the dominant music streaming service.

Even Apple, one of the world’s most valuable companies, has offered to pay for its device payment technology.

Separately, it is awaiting a final court ruling on its state aid tax dispute with the Commission, which ruled in 2018 that tax agreements of the company with Ireland were illegal. A lower court overturned the EU’s decision in 2020.