MILAN – The EU is preparing to accuse an apple to illegally restrict competition in its app store. It is reported Financial Times stressing that charges will be filed in the database, etc Digital Markets Act. In March, the EU announced that it had opened a formal investigation against Apple as well as Alphabet and Meta under the Digital Markets Act. Charges against Apple are expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
The European Commission accuses Apple – according to three sources of the newspaper – of failing to fulfill its obligations to allow developers to remove users from the app store to buy programs without imposing a commission.
EU cracks down on big tech. What will change for internet users with the Digital Markets
Accusations, – reminds v Financial Times would be the first moves against the tech company under the Digital Markets Act, a European regulation that officially came into force last March and aims to balance competition in digital markets by curbing the excessive power of web giants.
Already in recent months, the Commission has announced that it is conducting an investigation an applealong with Alphabet d Meta, precisely in light of the powers conferred on the DMA. According to the British newspaper, the regulators reached only preliminary conclusions, and Apple may still have time to take steps to correct its practices, which could force the regulators to reconsider the final decision. At the same time, the EU may announce charges against other tech groups as the investigation into Alphabet and Meta is still ongoing.
In January, Apple already announced important changes to iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, the App Store and the Safari browser in an attempt to adapt to the EU. Specifically, Apple allowed users to access competing app stores and download apps from other sources. Among the changes made is a reduction in the tax paid by companies that use the App Store to sell digital goods and services, from 30% to 17%.
At the same time, however, the company introduced new taxes: a 50-cent fee for every download over a million and an additional 3% tax on app developers who use its payment processor.