The European Union will fine Apple Music 500 million euros for anti-competitive practicesas reported by the Financial Times, citing five sources familiar with the matter.

The fine resolves a lawsuit filed by Spotify against Apple in 2019 unfair competition and abuse of a dominant market position. The arguments are well known and have to do with the App Store: forcing users to use its own services like Apple Music, taking advantage of its dominant market position, the most profitable app store on the planet and its huge installed base of devices. against competition..

The complaint by the world leader in music streaming services included a number of allegations such as setting exorbitant rates in the app store; regulations that limited innovation; special technical limitations; violating the rules of Apple’s developer license agreements and related App Store review guidelines or excluding Spotify from Apple’s services.

Not enough changes in Apple Music

Apple Music made changes in 2022 to allow Spotify and other services in the sector to sign up and get subscriptions in the app, avoiding the 30% payment and opening up more options, but Spotify assured that the changes were cosmetic and did not resolve the restrictions. and the general argument: Apple is abusing its dominant position strengthen your own services against the competition.

Also in audiobooks, another controversy that came when Spotify entered the market. “Apple continues to dictate what online innovation looks like, causing serious damage to the Internet economy, stifling competition and the imagination of app developers. Absent government intervention, Apple has proven time and time again that it will not regulate itself and has no real incentive to change. With the launch of our audiobooks, Apple has once again shown how brazen it is willing to be with App Store rules, constantly shifting targets to put its competitors at a disadvantage..

Sanctions will come, the FT assures. It will be 500 million euros ($539 million) and although it is only a tip, as it could reach up to 10% of the turnover of the Cupertino firm ($40,000 million), it must be said that it would be the first antitrust fine imposed on Apple by the European Union. The previous ones came from certain countries like France.

Apple will have to change how its digital store operates to comply with the Digital Markets Act, which comes into effect on March 8 and aims to guarantee fair competition between digital services. And not just Apple; Other large technology companies (also accused of similar practices) such as Microsoft, Meta or Google will have to allow alternatives in the sectors they monopolize.