Apple Faces Fine in First Charge Under EU’s Digital Markets Act

Apple is set to receive a fine from the European Union’s antitrust regulators, the first company to be sanctioned under the bloc’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The EU charged Apple in June for violating its tech rules, Reuters reported Tuesday (Nov. 5), citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The fine is likely to come later this month, but the timing may change, Reuters added. Violations of the DMA could result in a fine of as much as 10% of a company’s global annual turnover.

The DMA was enacted earlier this year and aims to curb monopolistic behavior by “gatekeepers,” a list of Big Tech firms that includes Apple. These companies face more stringent requirements aimed at ensuring fair competition, including measures that would allow developers to bypass platform restrictions, such as Apple’s 30% commission on App Store sales — an ongoing point of contention between Apple and the EU.

The latest fine comes less than a year after the European Commission fined Apple €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) for abusing its place in the music streaming market, as PYMNTS reported in March.

“Writing in a news release, the EC said it found that Apple had restricted app developers from telling iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services — such as rival Spotify — something that is illegal under Europe’s antitrust regulations,” PYMNTS reported then.

“Apple’s conduct, which lasted for almost 10 years, may have led many iOS users to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions because of the high commission fee imposed by Apple on developers and passed on to consumers in the form of higher subscription prices for the same service on the Apple App Store,” the EC said in a news release.

Apple also ran into similar obstacles in the U.S., facing an antitrust suit from the Department of Justice in March. The company has demanded that the case be thrown out on the grounds that it “bears no relation to reality.” The suit accuses the company of dominating the smartphone market.

The Justice Department is suing Apple for allegedly keeping competitors from accessing its devices’ software and hardware, thus making it harder for consumers to switch phones.