Apple faces €500m fine from EU over Spotify complaint

Apple is facing a first-ever fine, which Brussels is set to announce next month.

The company will reportedly be fined around €500 million ($539m) for allegedly breaking EU law. This follows a European Commission antitrust probe looking into whether or not the tech giant used its platform to favor its music streaming service over others. The investigation was launched in 2019, after Spotify made a formal complaint to regulators that the App Store prevents users from seeing cheaper alternatives to their own Apple Music.

Spotify kicked off their campaign with a website to promote their cause, which is still regularly updated. The music streaming platform outlined five reasons as to why Apple "doesn't play fair", like the fact Apple adds a discriminatory tax of 30 percent to only certain apps and how the App Store "routinely reject" Spotify's app enhancements, bug fixes, and new improvements.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

According to the Financial Times, the Commission will accuse of Apple of unfairly abusing its powerful position to implement anti-competitive trading practices, and also ban Apple's "practice of blocking music services from letting users outside its App Store switch to cheaper alternatives."

SEE ALSO: Apple confirms: It's killing home screen web apps in the EU

This is a first-ever fine from the EU, but Apple was hit with a €1.1bn fine in France, also for alleged anti-competitive behavior. The fine was lowered to €372mn after an appeal.

---

Related Stories

---

• Xbox, Spotify leaders blast Apple for App Store changes. Here’s why.
• Spotify is signing Joe Rogan to a multi-year deal worth $250 million
• Apple pulls the plug on its cheapest Apple Music plan
• Apple confirms: It's killing home screen web apps in the EU
• Apple looks to be killing web app capabilities. A new EU law might be why.

The EU has been pushing back against big tech firms that hold a monopoly over the market, aiming to open competition and give space to smaller companies in this space through its Digital Markets Act which will also be imposed next month. These six gatekeepers – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft – will have to comply.