Sources: EU is set to press antitrust charges against Apple over App Store rules for competing music streaming services, following a complaint by Spotify
Brussels set to formally press charges alleging tech company used its dominance to squeeze out App Store rivals
Context & Ripple Effects
Spotify’s complaint over App Store fees had already prompted the EU to open an antitrust probe into Apple’s conduct in 2019. The reported move toward charges turns that inquiry into a direct test of whether Apple’s App Store terms disadvantage music-streaming competitors.
The case’s later path underscores why the allegation mattered: the Commission subsequently charged Apple over in-app payment requirements, while later coverage focused on anti-steering rules and access for music services.
First-order effects
- Apple faces the prospect of formal EU antitrust charges centered on App Store rules governing competing music-streaming services.
- Spotify gains regulatory validation for its complaint, shifting its dispute with Apple from platform policy to an EU competition proceeding.
Second-order effects
- Music-streaming apps using the App Store face greater pressure to examine how payment and customer-signposting rules affect their ability to compete with Apple’s service.
- Apple’s App Store policies become a more immediate enforcement target in Brussels, foreshadowing the later proposed ban on anti-steering rules for music rivals.
Third-order effects
- The case points toward EU platform enforcement judging not only whether third-party apps are admitted, but whether their commercial access to customers is practically usable.
- If applied beyond music streaming, the same approach would put gatekeeper payment and steering restrictions at the center of competition policy for app marketplaces.
The trend: EU competition policy is moving from scrutiny of platform access fees toward rules that determine whether rivals can direct users to alternative payment and subscription options.