European regulators are reportedly set to slap Apple Inc. with a fine of more than $500 million, saying the tech giant unfairly hindered its music-streaming rivals.
The Financial Times and Bloomberg News reported Sunday that European Commission antitrust regulators are preparing to impose a roughly $500 million euro ($539 million) fine against Apple
AAPL,
after finding that it created an anticompetitive environment by failing to inform iPhone users that cheaper, alternative music-streaming apps were available outside its App Store.
The investigation was sparked by a complaint that Spotify SA
SPOT,
filed in 2019. While EU regulators have previously imposed large antitrust fines against Big Tech companies such as Google’s Alphabet
GOOGL,
GOOG,
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
it has never imposed an antitrust fine against Apple.
The FT reported the fine is expected to be announced in early March.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in the past has said “The App Store has helped Spotify become the top music streaming service across Europe and we hope the European Commission will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit.”
Meanwhile, the FT and Bloomberg also reported that the European Commission is close to accepting a settlement from Apple in a separate antitrust case, over its Apple Pay system.