European Union regulators accused Apple on Monday of violating its Digital Markets Act, which is meant to encourage competition, with its App Store “steering” policies. Additionally, the European Commission said it is launching an investigation the tech giant’s support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe and the core technology fee it imposes on developers.
“Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering,” said Margrethe Vestager, the head of competition policy in Europe. “Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers.”
As part of the EU’s DMA, Apple must authorize app developers to “steer” consumers to offers outside of the App Store for free. The DMA affected Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft, which all had to be fully compliant by March 2024. Apple is the first of the six companies to be charged with a violation, though Meta and Google are also being investigated.
