Apple May Lose Against Spotify in Antitrust Hearing

Apple and Spotify await the EU Commission's decision (photo: dock. unsplash)

JAKARTA – The battle between Apple and Spotify in the antitrust trial will enter its final phase. It seems that the European Union (EU) regulator will side with the plaintiff, namely Spotify.

Currently, the EU Commission is considering a final decision on the dispute. The final results are expected to be announced early next year if the executive body does not face challenges in making decisions.

Reporting from Bloomberg, a number of experts predict that the EU will punish Apple and impose a large fine of up to 10 percent of Apple's global revenue or up to 40 billion US dollars (IDR 620 trillion).

However, these fines may be lower than expected as the EU prioritizes effort over deterrence. Engagdet also believes that Apple will be forced to follow the rules in Europe so that Apple cannot carry out monopolistic practices forever.

This problem started four years ago. In 2019, Spotify filed a lawsuit with the EU alleging monopolistic practices carried out by Apple through the App Store, a digital store on Apple smart devices.

From Spotify's demand sheet, Apple gave an unfair direction, in which the music streaming platform had to increase the price of subscription packages. Spotify is also not permitted to use links from third-party apps.

Spotify's victory in this antitrust case is actually quite important. Apart from having a good impact on the platform, Spotify's victory also benefits other paid applications on the App Store which experience similar injustice.