An unprecedented penalty : The European Union fines Apple 1.84 billion euros

Monday, the European Commission imposed a fine of 1.84 billion euros on Apple for non-compliance with European Union competition rules in the online music market, an unprecedented penalty that the American company decided to appeal.

Spotify, a very popular music streaming platform, appealed to the European Commission against the practices of the giant American group, arguing that they conflict with European rules for “fair competition,” which, according to it, do not allow “to ensure freedom of choice for consumers and a fair environment for developers.”

At the end of the formal investigation opened in June 2020, the European executive ruled in favor of Spotify. European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager explained that for a decade, Apple has abused its dominant position in the market to distribute music applications via streaming through its App Store.

She added that the Apple group "therefore placed restrictions to prevent application developers from promoting alternative and cheap services available outside the Apple ecosystem to users of iPhones and iPads."

“This is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Vestager said. “Today we imposed a fine on Apple of more than 1.8 billion euros.” The group must also put an end to targeted practices in this path and refrain from adopting similar measures in the future.

This is the first time that the European Union has imposed sanctions on Apple for violating competition rules. The European Commission said in a statement that this amount is considered “proportionate to the global revenues” of the group based in Cupertino, California, and is “necessary to act as a deterrent.”

The Commission noted that the penalty also aims to "deter other companies of similar size and similar resources from committing the same violation."

Immediately after the fine was announced, Apple quickly expressed its intention to appeal it. The company expressed its regret at the penalty “which was taken despite the Commission’s inability to discover the slightest credible evidence of harm to consumers.” The giant American company believed that the fine “ignores the facts associated with the existence of a thriving, competitive and rapidly growing market.”

For its part, Apple accuses Spotify of seeking to benefit “without payment” from the advantages of the App Store and its “tools and technologies” that “contributed to making the “Swedish platform” one of the most famous brands in the world.”