Apple to ‘Vigorously’ Defend Against UK Consumer Group Class Action

Apple said Thursday (Nov. 14) that it will “vigorously” defend against a class action filed by U.K. consumer group Which?

Which? said in a Thursday press release that it filed a £3 billion ($3.8 billion) legal claim against the tech giant on behalf of 40 million Apple customers in the U.K., alleging that the company’s practices around its iCloud storage service violate U.K. competition law.

The consumer group alleges that Apple does so by using its control of its operating systems to give iCloud preferential treatment, encouraging users to sign up for the service and making it difficult for them to use other providers, according to the release.

Which? also alleges that Apple has overcharged users for subscriptions to iCloud, per the release.

“By bringing this claim, Which? is showing big corporations like Apple that they cannot rip off U.K. consumers without facing repercussions,” Which? CEO Anabel Hoult said in the release. “Taking this legal action means we can help consumers get the redress that they are owed, deter similar behavior in the future and create a better, more competitive market.”

Reached by PYMNTS, Apple said in a Thursday email that it will “vigorously” defend against the claim.

The company said in the email that customers are not required to use iCloud or iCloud Backup to store files; that many customers use other options like backing up to an external storage device or one of many other providers’ cloud storage options; and that Apple’s pricing is competitive with that of other cloud storage providers.

“Apple believes in providing our customers with choices,” the company said in an emailed statement. “Our users are not required to use iCloud, and many rely on a wide range of third-party alternatives for data storage. In addition, we work hard to make data transfer as easy as possible — whether it’s to iCloud or another service.”

“We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anticompetitive and will vigorously defend against any legal claim otherwise,” Apple added in its statement.

In an earlier, separate challenge in the U.K., the country’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) halted an antitrust investigation of Apple by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), saying the CMA had not complied with deadlines in the process.

The CMA’s investigation focused on the supply of mobile browsers and browser engines and the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices in the U.K.