EU To Apple: Nice Try, But Your App Store Still Breaks The Rules

In April, the EU fined Apple a staggering €500 million for allegedly violating the region’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple was also issued a cease-and-desist order and required to make changes to its App Store. Apple claims it complied, but according to the EU, it found that the App Store is still in violation of the DMA.

Apple’s App Store still violates the DMA

According to the European Commission’s full ruling against Apple, the Cupertino company is non-compliant with the ruling. It is also giving Apple 30 days to respond. Otherwise the company will be hit with “periodic penalty payments” until it does. 

“In view of the seriousness of Apple’s non-compliance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, as established in this Decision and considering that the non-compliance has been found to be on-going, the Commission concludes that it is necessary to impose periodic penalty payments pursuant to Article 31(1), point (h), of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 if Apple were to fail to implement measures that bring the infringement effectively to an end within 60 calendar days from the date of notification of this Decision.”

Apple has since responded to the EU’s claims with a statement made to 9to5Mac.

“There is nothing in the 70-page decision released today that justifies the European Commission’s targeted actions against Apple, which threaten the privacy and security of our users in Europe and force us to give away our technology for free. Their decision and unprecedented fine came after the Commission continuously moved the goalposts on compliance, and repeatedly blocked Apple’s months-long efforts to implement a new solution. The decision is bad for innovation, bad for competition, bad for our products, and bad for users. While we appeal, we’ll continue engaging with the Commission to advocate on behalf of our European customers.”

The issue at hand

For those unfamiliar with the EU’s case against Apple and its App Store, the EU wasn’t happy with Apple’s anti-steering restrictions. These policies prevent developers from informing users that they can pay for services outside the App Store. This is because Apple takes a cut from app purchases and in-app purchases.

Obviously, Apple wants to keep making money. This is why it doesn’t let developers inform users within the app that they can actually subscribe from alternative sources, like the app’s website itself.

Apple did make some changes. However, the EU found that those changes have fallen short.