BRUSSELS – Apple is set to face the first-ever fine under the European Union’s new digital antitrust rules for Big Tech, representing an escalation of a clash with regulators over the dominance of its hugely profitable App Store.
Watchdogs are readying the penalty after the iPhone maker failed to allow app developers to steer users to cheaper deals and offers outside of the App Store, according to people familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The penalty, under the tough new Digital Markets Act (DMA), is set to come just months after Apple was hit with a 1.8 billion euros (S$2.6 billion) fine for similar abuses under the bloc’s traditional competition rules – involving music streaming service Spotify.
The European Commission could still unleash the fine before current EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is due to leave office later this month, according to the people.
But there was a chance it could be pushed back to later this year, they said. The fine could also be accompanied by periodic penalty payments, levied on Apple until it complies with the law, said the people, adding that the decision was still being drafted.
Apple spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The European Commission declined to comment.
The move follows a warning to Apple in June that it must give developers effective means to steer users away from its App Store, or face future penalties. In contrast to traditional antitrust law, the DMA is designed to head off anticompetitive behavior before it is too late to wreck markets for good.
Under the law, EU regulators have powers to fine the world’s most powerful tech firms 10 per cent of their global annual sales, 20 per cent in the event of repeated infringements, or periodic
