“Apple will reportedly have to pay around 500 million euros (approximately US$539 million) in the EU.” Verge“for inhibiting competition from Apple Music on the iPhone.
The Financial Times reported this morning that the fine comes after regulators in Brussels, Belgium, investigated Spotify's complaint that Apple prevented the app from informing users about cheaper alternatives to Apple's music service. It was reported that he was punished. The EU objected to Apple's refusal to provide services to developers and suppressed its opposition. It even links to your own subscription signup within the app. This is a policy that Apple changed in 2022 in response to Japanese regulatory pressure.
$500 million may sound like a lot, but when the EU renewed its objections last year, even higher fines of nearly $40 billion (10% of Apple's annual global sales) were being considered. Apple was indicted for more than $1 billion in 2020, but French authorities reduced the amount to about $366 million after the company appealed.
The Verge quoted an Apple spokesperson who said a year ago that the EU lawsuit was “without merit.”
Reuters reported that the EU fine is “expected to be announced early next month.” financial times Said. “
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The FT reports that the fine is the EU's first against Apple and is expected to be announced early next month. It will investigate whether Apple's “anti-steering” requirements violate the European Union's abuse of antitrust rules and harm music consumers who “may end up paying more” for apps. The results of the European Commission's antitrust investigation… The European Commission will rule on Apple's actions, which the report says are illegal and in breach of EU competition rules. .
According to the newspaper, “EU executives plan to ban Apple's practice of barring music services from informing users of cheaper alternatives outside the App Store.”