The European Union is expected to impose a fine of approximately 500 million euros (R$ 2.6 billion, in direct conversion) on Apple. The penalty is related to a complaint filed by Spotify in 2019 for anti-competitive practices on the App Store, which favored Apple Music.
The information comes from the Financial Times newspaper, which heard from five people who are familiar with the investigation. In 2019, Spotify complained that Apple prevented streaming from informing users about the possibility of subscribing to the service directly on the site.
The only way to offer the Premium plan to iPhone and iPad users was to sell the subscription on the App Store, which charges a 30% fee for the first year and 15% for the following years. This led Spotify to embed this charge in the subscription price, making the product more expensive than Apple Music, which is from Apple itself, which also owns the App Store.
In 2020, the European Union announced that Apple was under investigation, following this complaint from Spotify and another from the e-book platform Kobo, with similar content. In 2021, the bloc made a formal accusation against the apple company.
Fine could be Apple’s first in the EU
As the Financial Times points out, if the penalty is actually applied, it will be the first time that Apple has received a fine from the European Union. Other countries in the region, however, have already done so. France, which is a member of the EU, has already imposed a $372 million (almost R$2 billion) tax in 2022 for anti-competitive behavior.
The figure of €500 million is a far cry from the ceiling allowed under EU rules. The bloc can impose fines of up to 10% of the company’s annual global turnover, which would amount to around 35 billion euros (approximately R$ 186 billion).
Regardless of the lawsuit, Apple was forced to make a number of changes to its store and payment system to comply with new EU rules. However, it has created new fees for apps distributed outside of the App Store. Spotify didn’t like it.
