EU slaps Apple with 720 billion won fine for "antitrust law violation"

The European Union (EU) competition authorities have found that Apple restricted fair competition in the music streaming market and are set to impose a fine of 500 million euros (approximately 720 billion KRW). This is the first time the EU has fined Apple, and with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into effect in Europe next month, the EU's regulatory crackdown on US big tech companies is expected to intensify.

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On the 17th (local time), major foreign media reported that the EU Commission will impose a fine on Apple next month for violating antitrust laws and will also issue corrective measures related to anti-competitive regulations.

This is the first time Apple has been fined at the EU level. Previously, in 2020, Apple was fined 1.1 billion euros (approximately 1.58 trillion KRW) by the French competition authority for antitrust violations, which was later adjusted to around 372 million euros (approximately 530 billion KRW) after an appeal.

The current EU investigation began in 2019 when Sweden's Spotify reported that Apple favored its own applications on the App Store while disadvantaging third-party apps. Spotify claimed that Apple charges App Store vendors commissions ranging from 15% to 30% of app sales, which leads to increased subscription fees for users. Spotify also stated that Apple did not inform users that cheaper music services were available outside the App Store.

The EU determined that Apple's actions constituted "unfair trading conditions," violating EU regulations aimed at strengthening competition in the single market. It found that Apple continued practices that block users' access to competitors' services by leveraging its dominant influence in the mobile market.

This move is expected to mark a more active phase of antitrust regulation by EU competition authorities targeting US big tech companies. The EU has already imposed fines exceeding 8 billion euros (approximately 11.51 trillion KRW) on Google for antitrust violations related to advertising technology practices. Additionally, starting next month, the EU will enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a powerful law that designates large platform operators as 'gatekeepers' to prevent abuse of market dominance. Microsoft (MS), Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon, ByteDance (TikTok's parent company), and Meta (Facebook's parent company) have been designated as gatekeepers.

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