LCan justice be both proportional – and, therefore, just – and dissuasive, therefore exemplary? Since Antiquity, men and nations have discussed these complementary, but not always compatible, concepts. As in the Middle Ages, when criminals were executed in public squares to impress crowds, the European Commission chose to make an example, by heavily condemning Apple for its anti-competitive practices.
Margrethe Vestager, the vice-president in charge of competition, acknowledged that applying the penalty provided for in this case would have resulted in a fine of 40 million euros. It therefore decided, as provided for by European rules, to add 1.8 billion euros to the bill, in the name of deterrence. This is the third heaviest fine after those imposed on Google in 2017 and 2018.
After more than two years of investigation, the Apple firm is condemned for having used its monopoly on the application store present in its smartphones in order to prohibit suppliers of online music “apps” from presenting their subscription options and different prices accessible outside of this store, and even place a link to their website.
“Significantly higher prices”
Apple, which itself owns an online music site, did not like that competing providers, such as Spotify, charged its subscribers through their website only in order to not pay it any commission. “It may be that Apple’s behavior, which lasted almost ten years, led many users [du système d’exploitation] iOS to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions »indicates the Commission.
The world leader in smartphones invokes, like Google before it, proportionality, emphasizing that the Commission cannot prove the harm to victims and that it understands nothing in the world “prosperous, competitive and fast” of the Internet. She also mentions the domination of Spotify in Europe.
What Brussels understands well, like its counterparts in Washington, is that Apple’s spectacular profits (more than 35 billion euros per quarter) are maintained by practices that close its environment to competition. exterior. Like Google, the Cupertino (California) firm guards the gateway to its universe and controls all access to it, in its interest. Hence the directive on digital markets which comes into force on Thursday March 7, with even more dissuasive fines.