Apple finds another way to block Spotify’s app in the EU

Although the Digital Markets Act came into force on November 1, 2022, some gatekeepers designated by the European Commission had until March 2024 to comply with the new regulations.

Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and ByteDance are the six important companies that had extra time to make all the necessary changes to their business models to comply with the new set of rules and obligations.

Unfortunately, even after being fined some of these companies are trying to delay the inevitable. Apple was recently hit with a $2 billion fine in the EU over complaints from Spotify about its App Store rules.

But that didn’t seem to convince Apple that the EU is serious about the DMA, so the Cupertino giant decided to find another way to prevent Spotify from informing customers about the prices of its services, nor to allow customers to purchase subscriptions directly from the provider of the services.

In an email to the European Commission obtained by The Verge, Spotify complains that Apple has “neither acknowledged nor responded to Spotify’s submission,” thus preventing the streaming company from updating the app for its users.

The Spotify app update that was submitted to Apple on March 5, but hasn’t been approved nor rejected by the latter.

According to Spotify, Apple claims that they turn around reviews and app submissions within 24 hours, so the fact that the update that was submitted nearly 10 days ago basically means that Apple is trying to circumvent the European Commission’s decision.

This is not the first time that Apple defies the Digital Markets Act. The company revoked Epic Games’ developer license after a tweet posted by CEO Tim Sweeney criticizing Apple.

Thankfully, Epic Games got back its developer license only a few days later after the European Commission reviewed the case.