London — European Union regulators have accused Apple of violating Block’s antitrust law for distorting the competition for music streaming through App Store rules.
The EU executive committee said Friday that it opposed how Apple would apply App Store rules to music streaming services that compete with its Apple Music service, increasing consumer costs and limiting choices. ..
One of the main concerns outlined by the EU focuses on Apple’s practice of forcing app developers selling digital content to use an in-house payment system that charges a 30% fee for all subscriptions. I have.
An EU study that followed up complaints from popular music streaming service Spotify found that charges were being passed on to consumers.
The second concern is that Apple is preventing developers from telling users about cheaper payment methods.
“Our preliminary discovery is that Apple is the gatekeeper to iPhone and iPad users through the App Store,” EU competitor Margrethe Vestager said in a press release. “By setting strict rules on the App Store that are detrimental to competing music streaming services, Apple deprives users of cheap music streaming options and distorts the competition.”
Apple didn’t immediately respond to the request for comment.
Under EU competition law, companies can be fined a percentage of their annual revenue for violations, which can amount to billions of euros in the case of Apple.