Your €500M Fine Goes “Beyond the Law”

As one of the largest companies of consumer tech in the world, Apple has a lot of operations located all around the world. This means that the company has to ensure that it complies with local laws. Unfortunately, over in the EU, Apple was hit with a €500 million fine for DMA violations, which it now wants to appeal.

Apple wants to appeal EU fine

In a statement made to 9to5Mac, Apple said, “Today we filed our appeal because we believe the European Commission’s decision—and their unprecedented fine—go far beyond what the law requires. As our appeal will show, the EC is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users. We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”

The Cupertino company is also accusing the EU of “redefining” what it needs to do under the DMA. For instance, Apple claims the EU has expanded the definition of “steering”. If you’re unfamiliar, steering in this context refers to developers providing users with a link to a payment method outside of Apple’s App Store.

Prior to this, Apple adjusted its guidelines to allow developers in the EU to link to outside payment systems. However, the company says that the EU has redefined what the term means. Now, it also covers linking to alternative app stores and third-party apps. This means that in addition to promoting non-Apple payment services, developers in the EU can also link to third-party app stores.

Apple’s run-in with the EU

Like we said earlier, Apple operates in many countries, and while its base is in the US, it needs to ensure that it complies with local laws. In the case of the EU, Apple needs to abide by EU laws and regulations, such as the GDPR and the DMA. 

The EU’s DMA was designed to create a fairer and competitive digital market space. This has impacted companies like Apple, whose App Store was the only place for iOS users to download and purchase their apps from. It didn’t help that before all this, Apple would charge developers a 30% commission from app sales and in-app purchases.

This rubbed many the wrong way. This included Fortnite developer Epic, which took Apple to court. It also caught the attention of the EU, where, under the DMA rules, it forced Apple to open up iOS to third-party app stores and alternative payment methods.