Apple says $570M EU fine is unfair, White House says it won’t be tolerated

Apple was yesterday fined €500M ($570M) by the EU for its App Store policies. Apple has now responded, stating that it is being unfairly targeted, with the White House also weighing in to describe fines levied against Apple and Meta as “extortion.” Despite the war of words, however, it seems to me that there are signs of a softening position on both sides of the antitrust dispute … The EU fine EU law requires free and fair competition. Large companies are not allowed to use their size and financial resources to put artificial barriers in the way of smaller businesses seeking to compete with them. Apple was deemed to be breaking the law in two ways. First, it forced developers to sell their apps and in-app purchases only through the App Store, with Apple taking a 15% or 30% cut. It didn’t allow a developer to point to their own website as a place to buy a subscription, for example. Second, Apple didn’t permit iPhone apps to be sold anywhere else. Nobody else was allowed to open a c ... Read full article.