On March 4th local time, Apple was accused by the European Union of suppressing music streaming competitors such as Spotify on its platform and faced a fine of 1.84 billion euros. The European Commission has also ordered Apple to stop blocking music streaming applications from informing users of more favorable services outside of the Apple App Store.
"For the past decade, Apple has abused its market dominance in distributing music streaming applications through the app store. They have restricted developers from informing consumers of alternative and more convenient music services outside of the Apple ecosystem," said Margaret Vestag, EU antitrust director
Apple has rejected the EU's fine and responded in a statement that EU regulatory agencies have failed to "discover any credible evidence of harm to consumers and have overlooked the reality of a thriving, fiercely competitive, and rapidly growing market.". Apple stated that it will appeal against the EU ruling.