EU regulators accuse Apple of violating antitrust laws

Following a March investigation, the European Commission found that tech giant Apple had broken antitrust laws.

This is the first charge of its kind imposed by the EU’s competition and technology regulator under the comprehensive Digital Markets Act (DMA) and could prove extremely costly for Apple.

If the European Commission finds that Apple has violated the DMA, it has the power to impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s global annual revenue.

According to the European Commission, Apple prevented app developers from “freely directing consumers to alternative channels of offers and content” in the App Store. However, if Apple updates terms of service that allegedly violate the DMA, penalties may be avoided.

The European Commission’s executive vice-president in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said that “today is a very important day for the effective enforcement of the DMA.” Vestager added that the European Commission has sent Apple its preliminary findings.

“Our initial position is that Apple does not allow full control. Steering is key to ensuring app developers are less dependent on service providers’ app stores and consumers are aware of better offers,” Vestager said.

The European Commission is also launching a second investigation into Apple regarding contract terms for third-party developers and whether they are necessary and proportionate.

The Core Technology Fee was launched by Apple in the EU in March this year and applies to all major developers, even if they don’t use Apple’s payment services. The European Commission now has until March 2025 to issue a final decision on Apple’s compliance with the DMA.

According to Apple, the company is confident that its current policy complies with DMA requirements. The tech company also says it has already made changes to comply with the DMA in recent months after working with the European Commission.

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