The EU has fined Apple a whopping $18 billion! Apple refuses to pay.
The fine issued this time originated from a complaint by the Swedish music streaming giant Spotify in 2019. Spotify claimed that due to Apple AppStore's 30% commission, the company was forced to raise subscription prices, suspecting Apple of monopolizing the streaming music market competition.
The EU has once again imposed a hefty fine on Apple!
On Monday, the European Commission announced that Apple has been fined €1.8 billion for abusing its dominant position and restricting music streaming competitors like Spotify.
Margrethe Vestager, the head of the EU's antitrust agency, stated:
"For the past decade, Apple has abused its dominant position through the App Store, limiting developers from introducing cheaper music services outside of the Apple ecosystem to users."
Following this news, Apple's stock fell more than 1% in pre-market trading.
This fine stems from a complaint filed by the Swedish music streaming giant Spotify in 2019. Spotify claimed that due to Apple's 30% commission on the App Store, the company was forced to raise subscription prices, suspecting Apple of having a monopoly in the streaming music market.
In addition, the European Commission has ordered Apple to stop blocking developers from recommending cheaper payment options outside the App Store to users.
Based on Apple's total revenue of $119.6 billion in the latest fiscal quarter, the $1.8 billion fine accounts for only 1.5% of Apple's quarterly income.
While Apple can certainly afford to pay the fine, the company has not admitted guilt. In its latest statement, Apple denied the EU's fine and even stated that the EU regulators "have not found any credible evidence of harm to consumer interests."
The EU's antitrust measures are quite severe, with well-known American tech giants almost all having faced fines from the EU. Previously, the EU antitrust agency had also ordered Apple to repay €13 billion in illegal tax breaks provided by Ireland.
In addition to cracking down on Apple's App Store, the EU has also introduced stricter data management and antitrust regulations. According to the newly implemented Digital Markets Act this week, favoring their own services and restricting competitors' products by tech giants is considered illegal.