Apple Slapped With Nearly $2 Billion Fine After Spotify Complaint
The European Union on Monday hit Apple with a fine of almost $2 billion in the bloc’s first antitrust penalty, saying the tech giant broke European competition rules by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service.
Announcing the decision, the European Commission said Apple had imposed restrictions on app developers which stopped them from informing users where they could find cheaper music subscriptions. Apple—which has vowed to appeal the decision—was also ordered to remove the restrictions.
“For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said in a statement. “They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”