Apple Pays IDR 8.4 Trillion Fine in EU for Inhibiting Competition against Apple Music

Apple blocks competitors from benefiting Apple Music (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - Apple reportedly has to pay around 500 million euros (Rp. 8.4 trillion) in the EU for hindering competition against Apple Music on the iPhone. The Financial Times reported Sunday, February 18 that this fine came after regulators in Brussels, Belgium investigated Spotify's complaint that Apple prevented the app from telling users about cheaper alternatives to Apple's music service.

The issue relates to Apple's efforts to keep apps and users contained within its App Store payment system. Spotify complained in 2019 that Apple's policy hindered competition against Apple Music. This is what led the EU to start an investigation the following year.

The EU downplayed their objections to Apple's refusal to let developers even link to their own subscription sign-ups in their apps — a policy Apple changed in 2022 after regulatory pressure in Japan.

IDR 8.4 trillion may sound like a lot, but a much larger fine of nearly 40 billion US dollars (or 10 percent of Apple's annual global turnover) was on the table when the EU renewed their objections last year. Apple was fined more than a billion dollars in 2020, but French authorities reduced it to around 366 million US dollars (IDR 5.7 trillion) after the company appealed.

An Apple representative, Emma Wilson, told The Verge in an email that the company "does not comment on speculation" and referred  to previous statements made by another Apple spokesperson, Hannah Smith, who said in February last year that the company hoped the Commission would stop pursuing this case, which Smith said was "unfounded." European Commission spokeswoman Lea Zuber declined to comment.