EU regulators reportedly will fine Apple more than $500 million in antitrust probe

European regulators are reportedly set to slap Apple Inc. with a fine of more than $500 million, saying the tech giant unfairly hindered its music-streaming rivals.

The Financial Times and Bloomberg News reported Sunday that European Commission antitrust regulators are preparing to impose a roughly $500 million euro ($539 million) fine against Apple
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after finding that it created an anticompetitive environment by failing to inform iPhone users that cheaper, alternative music-streaming apps were available outside its App Store.

The investigation was sparked by a complaint that Spotify SA
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filed in 2019. While EU regulators have previously imposed large antitrust fines against Big Tech companies such as Google’s Alphabet
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and Microsoft Corp.
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it has never imposed an antitrust fine against Apple.

The FT reported the fine is expected to be announced in early March.

Apple declined to comment Sunday, but referred to a previous statement, that said “The App Store has helped Spotify become the top music streaming service across Europe and we hope the European Commission will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit.”

Meanwhile, the FT and Bloomberg also reported that the European Commission is close to accepting a settlement from Apple in a separate antitrust case, over its Apple Pay system.

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