Apple Fined $2B In Spotify Music Streaming Case

deadline.com:

Apple has been fined €1.8B ($1.95B) for breaking antitrust rules in Europe over music streaming. The EU’s European Commission issued the heavy penalty, Apple’s first ever of its kind, after ruling the tech giant had prevented the likes of Spotify from informing consumers about “alternative and cheaper music subscription services” outside of the App Store.

The EC said this amounted to Apple “abusing its dominant position” — effectively restricting Apple handset users using its operating system (iOS) to its own services and payment methods.

This was “illegal under EU antitrust rules,” the watchdog said. The fine is nearly four times the €500M that had been expected, and Apple is expected to contest the verdict.

The EC said an investigation had found Apple “bans music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app and from providing any instructions about how to subscribe to such offers.” It added Apple’s practices, which last nearly a decade, reduced consumers’ ability to make informed choices about their purchases and may have forced them to pay “significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions because of the high commission fee imposed by Apple on developers,” which could have been passed on.