EU investigates alleged violation of Apple antitrust law

The EU European Commission announced on June 16 (local time) that the Apple App Store and Apple Pay had begun a formal investigation, claiming that they are concerned about the violation of antitrust laws.

Among them, the European Commission said that it was in response to complaints from music streaming service Spotify and e-book operator Kobo. Reportedly, Cobo has to pay a 30% fee for selling e-books on its iOS app, while Apple doesn’t see a decline in revenue for its own Apple Books. In order to avoid this, it is known that Kobo has allegedly allegedly violated the antitrust law in that it has no choice but to ask customers to purchase on its website and lose business opportunities. These claims are similar to the complaints made by Spotify to the European Commission in March 2019. Spotify also focuses on the 30% commission paid to the App Store.

In the case of Apple Pay, according to the European Commission, there are suspicions that Apple is denying its use to companies that provide other payment services or restricting access to iPhone NFC functions. It was also reported in September 2019 that EU regulators are seeking opinions from service providers, banks and app providers.

Apple said it was competing under the law in response to the European Commission’s decision, while the European Commission was moving to unfounded complaints from a few companies. Lawsuits over whether the App Store violates antitrust laws continues in the United States. Related information can be found here .