EU authorities fined Apple for 1.8 billion euros for providing advantages to their musical streaming service

The European Union imposed the first antimonopoly penalty for Apple for violating the EU laws on competition, reports Marketwatch. The company was fined 1.8 billion euros for providing advantages to its own streaming music to competitors.

Apple forbade the application developers to inform iOS users about alternative and cheaper subscription services to music, in which the European Commission saw violation of European legislation. The company was fined after a long investigation initiated by the complaint of the Swedish streaming service Spotify.

The EU is actively engaged in the activities of large IT companies, including multi-billion dollar fins for Google and the accusation of META (owner of Facebook) in capture of the online advertising market. The European Commission also began a separate antimonopoly investigation into Apple mobile payments.

The law on digital markets (DMA), which should enter into force on Thursday, imposes a number of prohibitions on large IT companies, including Apple, Meta, Google and Tiktok. Apple has already told how to comply with the requirements, including permission from iPhone users in Europe to use apps other than its own stores, and will allow the developers to offer alternative payment systems.

Earlier, Financial Times wrote that Apple in this case can be fined only 500 million euros. Earlier, the EU authorities never fined Apple according to antimonopoly legislation. At the same time, in France, companies ordered to pay 1.1 billion euros in 2020 for anti -competitive behavior. After filing an appeal, the fine was reduced to 372 million euros.