European Union to Fine Apple Nearly 500 Million Euros for Anti-competitive Behavior

On the 18th, according to reports from the UK’s Financial Times and Daily Mail, the European Commission will impose a fine of approximately 500 million euros on the tech giant Apple. The reason behind this is Apple’s alleged failure to inform iPhone users that there were cheaper alternative music streaming applications outside of the App Store, thus creating an anti-competitive environment in violation of the EU’s antitrust regulations.

Financial Times cited sources familiar with this long-running investigation stating that this will be Apple’s first penalty from the EU. The EU is expected to announce this penalty decision early next month.

The EU’s investigation into Apple’s App Store was triggered nearly four years ago by a complaint from Spotify. The company claimed that it was forced to raise monthly subscription prices to offset costs associated with Apple’s alleged control over the operation of the App Store.

Regarding the EU fine, Apple, when asked for comment, referred to a previous statement stating that “its App Store helped Spotify become the leading music streaming service in Europe.” The European Commission declined to comment.

It is worth mentioning that EU regulators are currently preparing to enforce the EU’s flagship Digital Markets Act, which will come into effect on March 7th. This new comprehensive regulation aims to prevent anti-competitive behaviors by tech companies.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), it will be illegal for the most powerful companies to prioritize their own services over those of competitors. These companies will be prohibited from merging personal data across different services, from using data collected from third-party merchants to compete with them, and must allow users to download applications from competitors’ platforms.

By Reporter Leng Shuang