Apple Found In Breach Of EU’s Digital Markets Act. What Do The Rules Say?

Apple has been found to violate new European Union regulations aimed at fostering competition from smaller companies and enabling consumers to access cheaper and alternative apps in its app store.

The European Commission, acting as the EU's antitrust and technology regulator, announced that it had communicated its preliminary findings to Apple following an investigation initiated in March.

EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) bans the anti-steering for app platforms. This means that consumers have the right not only to uninstall pre-installed apps, but also replace them with third-party alternatives.

The regulator's initial findings conclude that the App Store continues to hinder app developers from "freely directing consumers" to alternative options.

Meanwhile, Apple is postponing the EU release of several anticipated product features, citing concerns about the DMA interoperability requirements. Interoperability refers to the real-time data exchange between different systems.

In an email statement to various media outlets, Apple stated that the DMA's interoperability rules could compel it to compromise the integrity of its products, potentially jeopardising user privacy and data security.