Here's why Apple has been fined €1.8 billion by the European Union

The European Union on Monday imposed its first antitrust fine of more than 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) on tech giant Apple for preventing Spotify and other music streaming services from informing users about payment options outside their App Store. Reuters reported.

The European Commission's decision, prompted by a complaint from Spotify in 2019, found that Apple's actions created unfair trading conditions, backed by the argument that restricting such information violates EU antitrust rules.

The EU competition official justified the significant fine by considering that Apple's conduct caused damage that went beyond monetary considerations.

Margrethe Vestager, EU antitrust chief, said: “For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of streaming music applications through the App Store.”

He stressed that Apple's restrictions prevented developers from informing consumers about alternative, more profitable music services outside of Apple's ecosystem.

In response, Apple criticized the decision and promised to challenge it in court. The company argued that the Commission failed to uncover credible evidence of consumer harm and failed to take into account the prosperous and competitive nature of the market.

Apple's main argument centered on the perceived beneficiary of the decision being Spotify, a Sweden-based company that pays no commission to Apple.

The EU's order to Apple to remove App Store restrictions aligns with the upcoming requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will come into force on March 7. Despite the historic nature of the fine, it is equivalent to approximately a quarter of the sanctions previously imposed on Google by the EU in the last decade.

At the same time, Apple is trying to resolve another EU antitrust investigation by proposing to open its tap-and-go mobile payment systems to competitors, a move that is expected to be accepted without additional fines.