Apple will face a fine of roughly $539 million from the European Union early next month. The giant tech company will pay a penalty for the first time for music streaming. The Financial Times (FT) reported the impending fine after the completion of an antitrust probe against Apple that began with a complaint from Spotify. The FT reported that Brussels would impose the penalty on the Cupertino giant as five sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the fine.
In 2019, music streaming service Spotify formally complained to Apple with the EU. The European Commission began investigating whether Apple blocked apps from letting users know about cheaper alternatives to access music subscriptions other than the App Store.
People familiar with the investigation told FT that the Commission is expected to say that the actions of the Cupertino giant were illegal and went against the bloc’s rules. The EU will declare that Apple’s terms were “unfair trading conditions.”
The Sunday report said that Brussels has never fined Apple. Apple faced a fine of over a billion dollars in France, but the amount that the tech company was fined was reduced to less than $400 million after an appeal by Apple.
The Digital Markets Act will be enforced in the European Union in March 2024. The DMA has designated several tech companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and others as gatekeepers. These influential firms will be unable to favor their services over competitors.
Apple can appeal at the EU court after the fine is levied. Both Apple and the Commission declined to comment, according to the FT.
Apple said it was pleased when the Commission narrowed the scope of the earlier charges as the EU decided not to probe the amount of Apple pushing developers to use the App Store to make payments.
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