The European Commission plans to fine Apple €500 million in March for violating antitrust laws in the field of music streaming. This will be the first fine against Apple in this segment of the industry. The decision will be the culmination of a lengthy antitrust investigation following the 2019 Spotify complaint.
The Financial Times (FT) gathered the opinions of five people with knowledge of the antitrust proceedings against Apple, accused of inflating the costs of rival music streaming companies.
Everyone agrees that the company will be fined in March, since the regulator saw in Apple’s actions a desire to limit sellers’ opportunities on its platforms and, therefore, consumers’ access to cheaper alternatives, which It directly contradicts the principles of healthy competition.
The starting point of the investigation was the lawsuit by the Swedish streaming platform Spotify against Apple in 2019. According to the plaintiff, the App Store inflates the costs of third-party streaming services through a 30% commission, which prevents it from set competitive prices.
Financial Times sources claim that the European Commission considers Apple’s actions to be “illegal” and “contrary” to EU antitrust rules.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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