The European Union has issued its first antitrust fine against Apple, totaling over $500 million!
Apple was fined for "preventing other competitors from notifying Apple users that there are cheaper music subscription services outside of the App Store."
After abandoning the Lightning port and opening up third-party app downloads, Apple faces another blow in Europe.
On February 18, media reports cited insiders revealing that the EU is set to issue Apple its first antitrust fine on music streaming issues, with an estimated amount of around 500 million euros (equivalent to 539 million US dollars), expected to be announced early next month.
Reportedly, Apple is fined for "preventing other competitors from informing Apple users that there are cheaper music subscription services outside the App Store." European music streaming giant Spotify accused Apple in 2019, leading to an investigation by EU regulators.
The EU believes that Apple has abused its dominant position in the mobile app market, imposed restrictions on competitors, and violated EU antitrust regulations.
In response, Apple reiterated a previous statement, stating that "the App Store has helped Spotify become the 'top stream' in the European region."
Apple has never been fined by the EU for violating antitrust laws before, but in 2020, Apple was fined 1.1 billion euros by France for monopoly issues. After Apple appealed, the fine was reduced to 372 million euros. In comparison, the EU has issued a total of 8 billion euros in fines to Alphabet-C in recent years, and both parties are currently going through legal procedures.
It is worth noting that tech giants including Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet-C are about to face new challenges as they need to fully comply with all the provisions of the EU's Digital Markets Act by early March.
This act requires these tech giants to adhere to stricter regulations and will compel them to allow competitors to share information about their services.