The European Commission said Friday that Apple had “abused its dominant position” for the distribution of music-streaming apps via the company’s App Store.
The new antitrust action from the European Union signals that new regulatory action will likely hit Apple regardless of how the U.S. federal government decides to act.
“Our preliminary conclusion: @Apple is in breach of EU competition law,” said Margrethe Vestager, head of competition policy at the European Commission, on Twitter. “@AppleMusic compete with other music streaming services. But @Apple charges high commission fees on rivals in the App [S]tore & forbids them to inform of alternative subscription options. Consumers losing out.”
The European Commission sent its statement of objections to Apple, which is part of Europe’s investigatory process but does not mean the regulators have reached a conclusion. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the EU’s action.
The EU’s new antitrust action is the latest bit of mounting antitrust scrutiny facing the company from regulators across the western world. In March, the United Kingdom’s government said it launched an investigation into suspected anti-competitive behavior involving Apple’s App Store.
Last week, the U.S. Senate held a hearing focused squarely on Apple’s and Google’s app stores. The Senate’s top antitrust panels probed Apple over potential anti-competitive concerns at the hearing, which Apple first declined to participate in before reversing its decision at the request of Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, and Mike Lee, Utah Republican.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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