BY JAMES SCOTT/ JAN 22, 2023
In a letter to the executive vice president of the EU Commission, Spotify and eight other businesses and associations label Apple as a dangerous, monopolistic company that needs to be controlled by "immediate action."
Spotify
The letter was addressed to Margrethe Vestager of the EU and signed by the CEOs and heads of Basecamp, France Digitale, Deezer, Proton, Spotify, Schibsted, European Publishers Council (EPC), and News Media Europe.
Spotify
The letter calls on the EU to take legal action and wrap up a probe of Apple's app distribution methods that Spotify started.
Spotify
The group alleges that the platform's practices and "capricious adjustments to terms and conditions" have prevented their businesses from expanding and made it more difficult for them to do so.
Spotify
Apple has unfairly restricted our companies' operations for years. These limitations affect European customers and impede our progress.
Spotify
They consist of tying the App Store to Apple's exclusive payment system, which has excessive commissions for app developers, putting up artificial barriers that prevent our companies from freely communicating with their clients, limiting developers' access to user data, and changing terms and conditions inconsistently.
Spotify
Apple enjoys a monopoly over the mobile ecosystem and charges software developers forced to stay on the App Store to access European customers hefty fees.
Spotify