Apple hit with nearly $2B antitrust EU fine

European regulators hit Apple with a nearly $2 billion antitrust fine on Monday for “abusive” App Store rules related to music streaming providers.

The European Commission said it found that Apple banned music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about alternate and cheaper music subscription services.

“For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

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The regulators said Apple’s conduct may have led to iOS users paying “significantly higher” prices for music streaming subscriptions.

The EU competition enforcer said Apple’s restrictions constituted unfair trading conditions, a relatively novel argument in an antitrust case and also used by the Dutch antitrust agency in a decision against Apple in 2021 in a case brought by dating app providers.

The EU regulator said it added an additional lump sum of 1.8 billion euros to the basic amount as a deterrent to Apple and because a significant part of the harm caused by Apple’s conduct was non-monetary. It did not say what the basic amount was.

“The primary advocate for this decision – and the biggest beneficiary – is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden,” Apple said in a statement. “Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world, and has met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation.”

The tech giant also said that Spotify has a more than 50% share of Europe’s music streaming market – more than double the streaming service’s closest competitor’s.

It said the Swedish company pays no commission to Apple as it sells its subscriptions on its website and not on Apple’s App Store.

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The European Commission’s decision was triggered by a 2019 complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify over this restriction and Apple’s 30% App Store fees.

Spotify said in a statement that “Today’s decision marks an important moment in the fight for a more open internet for consumers.”

“Apple’s rules muzzled Spotify and other music streaming services from sharing with our users directly in our app about various benefits – denying us the ability to communicate with them about how to upgrade and the price of subscriptions, promotions, discounts, or numerous other perks,” Spotify added.

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Reuters contributed to this report.