The European Union fined Apple nearly US$2 billion on Monday for breaking competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals.
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00:00 Today, the Commission has fined Apple 1.84 billion euros for abusing its dominant position
00:09 on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps.
00:14 Apple did so by restricting app developers' ability to inform users of Apple devices about
00:22 alternative, cheaper options to purchase music available on the internet outside of the Apple
00:29 ecosystem. This is illegal and it has impacted millions of European consumers. They were not
00:38 able to make a free choice as to where, how and at what prices to buy music streaming
00:45 subscriptions. And this is why with today's decision, we have ordered Apple to remove
00:51 the anti-staring provisions and to refrain from similar practices in the future. From now on,
00:59 Apple will have to allow music streaming developers to communicate freely with their own users,
01:07 be that within the app, by email or any other ways of communicating. Now, it is of fundamental
01:17 importance to hold companies like Apple accountable for their violation of EU law. If Apple abuses
01:26 its dominant position, we will detect such illegal behavior, we will bring it to an end
01:32 and we will punish Apple for it. That is why we decided to impose a fine of 1.84 billion
01:40 euros on Apple. The fine also includes a so-called lump sum to account for the non-monetary
01:48 harm caused to consumers and to achieve deterrence. The fine we impose today reflects both Apple's
01:57 financial power and the harm that Apple's conduct inflicted on millions of European