Apple is the first company to be charged with violating the Digital Markets Act, a law passed in 2022 that gives European regulators wide authority to force the largest “online gatekeepers” to change their business practices.
The charges signal that the European Union, already known as an aggressive regulator of the tech industry, plans to intensify its crackdown. Amazon, Google and Meta are also facing investigations under the new competition rules, while TikTok and X are facing probes under another law intended to force internet companies to more aggressively police their platforms for illicit content.
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After initiating an investigation in March, E.U. regulators said Apple was putting unlawful restrictions on companies that make games, music services and other applications. Under the law, also known as the D.M.A., Apple cannot limit how companies communicate with customers about sales and other offers and content available outside the App Store. The company faces a penalty of up to 10 percent of global revenue, a fine that could go up to 20 percent for repeat infringements, regulators said. Apple reported $383 billion in revenue last year.
“Today is a very important day for the effective enforcement of the D.M.A.,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president in charge of competition policy. She said Apple’s App Store policies make developers more dependent on the company and prevent consumers from being aware of better offers.
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“The European Commission would like Apple to open its ecosystem, and Apple is saying no way,” said Mr. Valletti, now an economics professor at Imperial College London. “Apple is basically saying, ‘See you in court.’”
Apple’s regulatory woes show how government scrutiny of the tech industry is growing worldwide. In the United States, Apple is being sued by the Justice Department over claims that it has an illegal monopoly in the smartphone market. It also is arguing in U.S. federal court that it has the right to take up to 27 percent of certain app sales through third-party payment systems, which developers argue violates a 2021 judicial ruling.
Japan and Britain, which is no longer part of the European Union, have advanced rules to curb Apple’s control of the App Store, as well.
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Source: Apple’s App Store Policies Charged Under New E.U. Competition Law – The New York Times
Apple has been swinging it’s fuck you stick at the EU for some time now, so it’s not surprising that the EU has decided to finally do something about it.
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Robin Edgar
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