Applefines & penalties

This is a state-aid recovery, not a fine. The Commission ordered Apple to repay illegal tax benefits granted by Ireland, which produced effective tax rates as low as 0.005%. After being annulled in 2020, the order was reinstated by the EU's top court in 2024.

Following a Spotify complaint, the Commission found that Apple banned music apps from telling iPhone users about cheaper subscription options available outside the App Store.

In the first Digital Markets Act fine against Apple, the Commission found that Apple prevented developers from freely informing users about, and directing them to, cheaper purchasing options outside the App Store.

Apple agreed to a US class-action settlement of up to $500M, roughly $25 per affected iPhone, over the same undisclosed performance throttling.

France's competition authority fined Apple over anticompetitive agreements with premium resellers that froze the reseller market and kept prices aligned. On appeal the fine was cut to €372M.

France's competition authority found that Apple's App Tracking Transparency consent design over-burdened third-party apps while Apple's own advertising faced lighter requirements, an abuse of its dominant position.

Italy's competition authority found that Apple abused its dominant position in app distribution on iOS through its App Tracking Transparency policy, in force since April 2021. Because the ATT prompt does not meet EU privacy-law consent requirements on its own, third-party developers had to ask users for consent twice for the same purpose.

Thirty-four US states settled claims over the hidden iPhone throttling, separate from the consumer class action.

The Dutch ACM levied ten consecutive weekly penalties of €5M after Apple repeatedly failed to comply with an order to let dating apps use alternative payment systems.

France's DGCCRF fined Apple for failing to tell consumers that iOS updates could slow older iPhones to manage aging batteries, part of the wider Batterygate episode.

Italy's AGCM fined Apple for misleading marketing about iPhone water resistance and for refusing warranty service on water-damaged phones.