After facing the backlash from the community and the official antitrust complaint from Spotify and Dutch News app, Apple is facing the investigation for discrimination against the developers. According to the antitrust complaint filed by Spotify and Dutch News app, two of the services of Apple, namely Apple Music and Apple News are under scrutiny from Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). After receiving numerous complaints from other developers and Spotify, ACM thinks it is the right time for starting the investigation against Apple for monopolistic practices.
The antitrust complaint from Spotify accuses Apple of discriminating with third-party developers and pushing Apple Music and Apple News over other apps. As this counts as the monopolistic practices, the company will now face a full-fledged investigation against the claims made by the complainant. So, when the user searches for a specific app, Apple is pushing its app over the others on the Apple App store. Also, the company is forcing the app developers to pay an excessive amount of commission for listing the application of App Store and limiting the choice of commissions to pay.
According to the multiple reports from the app providers, it is clear that Apple is exploiting the dominance and neglecting the app developers on the Apple App Store platform. The apps which have to pay lesser commission are not getting enough exposure as Apple Music and Apple News are overshadowing them. Apple responded to Spotify saying that “Spotify Wants to Enjoy the Perks of Free App Without being a Free app”. Even after retaliating, Apple will now face the Investigation for monopolistic practices and Antitrust complaints. Netherlands’ ACM said that as they have numerous reports of Apple violating the monopolistic policies, they will start the investigation against the company. This investigation might include all other apps from Apple and also Google Play Store and related Services.