EU FINES APPLE $1.95B

The European Union has slapped Apple with a $1.95b fine for using the App Store to impede Apple Music’s competitors. The tech giant says it will appeal.

The size of the fine, said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission EVP overseeing competition policy, “reflects both Apple’s financial power and the harm that Apple’s conduct inflicted on millions of European users.” Apple, she said, “abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps” and will have to allow music streaming developers to communicate freely with their users.

Vestager’s statement, in part, read: “The European Commission's investigation found that 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.

“Apple's anti-steering provisions amount to unfair trading conditions. The commission has also ordered Apple to remove the anti-steering provisions and to refrain from repeating the infringement or from adopting practices with an equivalent object or effect in the future.”

The decision comes at the end of a five-year investigation instigated by Spotify. The fine is the most severe penalty against Apple since 2016.