The European Union is preparing to fine Apple, for the first time, 500 million euros for violating the European law on access to music streaming. The news is reported by Financial Times, explaining that the official announcement from the EU should come in early March. If confirmed, the sanction would be the result of an antitrust investigation by the European Commission opened following a report from Spotify in 2019. Indeed, Apple would be responsible for having prevented, through contractual restrictions imposed on applications third parties, to inform users. of the existence of streaming services that are more practical than proprietary services. Less than a month ago, Apple was forced by the EU to include access to alternative stores in its devices. From a hardware point of view, Apple also had to give in on the USB-C port which replaced the proprietary Lightning cable of the latest iPhone model.
Spotify's complaint
Concretely, Spotify is reporting a 30% tax, feared by Apple, which would apply to the internal purchasing service for third-party applications. These are not purchases made on the App Store, but Apple would still have imposed anti-competitive influence on the type of messages and promotions that can be sent to users by third-party applications. Additionally, non-proprietary streaming apps would be subject to a hefty tax from Apple that would reduce their ability to offer affordable prices to customers. The restrictions would be particularly severe for users of iOS, the operating system used on iPads and iPhones.
Apple’s “blackmail”.
The Swedish music streaming giant explains that by refusing to pay this tax, Apple would prevent third parties from sending promotional messages directly to customers who already use proprietary non-Apple services. In practice, blackmail that forces third-party developers to choose between having to increase subscriptions to cover the costs linked to the tax, or completely giving up sending promotional messages to users. According to what is provided for by the Financial Times, the Commission is ready to judge Apple's actions as illegal because they contravene EU competition rules. In addition to the fine, the European executive should therefore prohibit the practice denounced against Apple.
Read also:
