On Monday, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, hit Apple with a 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) antitrust fine for abusing its dominant position in the distribution of music streaming apps.
The Commission said it found that Apple had applied restrictions on app developers that prevented them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app.
Apple also banned music streaming app developers from providing instructions about how users could subscribe to these cheaper offers, the Commission alleged.
This is Apple’s first antitrust fine from Brussels and is among the biggest dished out to a technology company by the EU.
The European Commission opened an investigation into Apple after a complaint from Spotify in 2019. The probe was narrowed down to focus on the contractual restrictions that Apple imposed on app developers, preventing them from informing iPhone and iPad users of alternative music subscription services at lower prices outside of the App Store.
Apple’s conduct lasted almost ten years, according to the Commission, and “may have led many iOS users to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions because of the high commission fee imposed by Apple on developers and passed on to consumers in the form of higher subscription prices for the same service on the Apple App Store.”
The fine will ramp up tensions between Big Tech and Brussels when the EU increasingly scrutinizes these firms.
