Apple has become the first major tech company to be charged with violating the European Union’s new digital market rules, three days after it said it would not release any artificial intelligence (AI) in the bloc due to regulations.
The European Commission said on Monday that Apple’s App Store prevents developers from communicating with users and promoting their offers directly, a so-called anti-steering practice.
“Our preliminary view is that Apple has not fully accepted steering, which is important for app developers to become less reliant on gatekeeper app stores and for consumers to become aware of better offers,” European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton offered an even harsher assessment of X: “For too long, Apple has shut out innovative companies and denied consumers new opportunities and choices,” he said.
The EU called Monday’s charges “preliminary findings.” Apple has a chance to counter them, and if no agreement is reached, the EU has the power to impose fines of up to 10% of the company’s global revenue through March 2025.
Tensions between Apple and the EU have been rising for months. Brussels launched an investigation into the smartphone maker in March for allegedly violating EU competition rules. Investigations have also been opened into Meta and Google parent Alphabet, but a long-running focus in Brussels has been Apple’s relationship with European developers.
One of the MEPs who negotiated the Digital Markets Bill in March told WIRED that Apple was the logical first target for the new rules, describing the company as “low-hanging fruit.” Under the Digital Markets Bill, it would be illegal for big tech companies to prioritize their own services over those of their rivals.
Developers are outraged by the new terms of trade imposed by Apple, describing the company’s policies as “abusive,” “extortionate” and “ridiculously punitive.”
Apple spokesman Rob Sanders said Monday the company is confident it is complying with the law. “All developers doing business through the App Store in the EU have the opportunity to take advantage of the features we’ve introduced, including the ability to direct app users to the web to complete their purchases at very competitive prices,” Sanders said.
Apple announced on Friday that it won’t release any artificial intelligence features in the EU this year due to what the company described as “regulatory uncertainty.” “Specifically, we are concerned that the DMA’s interoperability requirements may force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that put users’ privacy and data security at risk,” Sanders said in a statement. The affected features include iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay screen sharing enhancements and Apple Intelligence, Apple’s first generative AI.
Apple isn’t the only company to blame the EU’s new rules for its decisions to delay new feature releases. Last year, Google delayed the EU release of ChatGPT competitor Bard, and in early June, Meta suspended plans to train its AI with Europeans’ personal Facebook and Instagram data after consultation with privacy regulators. “This is a setback for Europe’s innovation and AI race, further delaying the benefits of AI to Europeans,” the company said at the time.
