The European Union leveled its first antitrust penalty against Apple on Monday, fining the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc's competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals.Apple banned app developers from "fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside of the app," said the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc맥스카지노�s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer.맥스카지노�This is illegal, and it has impacted millions of European consumers,맥스카지노� Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, said at a news conference.Apple behaved this way for almost a decade, which meant many users paid 맥스카지노�significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions,맥스카지노� the commission said.The 1.8 billion-euro fine follows a long-running investigation triggered by a complaint from Swedish streaming service Spotify five years ago.The EU has led global efforts to crack down on Big Tech companies, including a series of multbillion-dollar fines for Google and charging Meta with distorting the online classified ad market. The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple맥스카지노�s mobile payments service.Apple hit back at both the commission and Spotify, saying it would appeal the penalty.맥스카지노�The decision was reached despite the Commission맥스카지노�s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast,맥스카지노� the company said in a statement.It said Spotify stood to benefit from the decision, asserting that the Swedish streaming service that holds a 56% share of Europe맥스카지노�s music streaming market and doesn't pay Apple for using its App Store met 65 times with the commission over eight years.맥스카지노�Ironically, in the name of competition, today맥스카지노�s decision just cements the dominant position of a successful European company that is the digital music market맥스카지노�s runaway leader,맥스카지노� Apple said. The commission's investigation initially centered on two concerns. One was the iPhone maker's practice of forcing app developers that are selling digital content to use its in-house payment system, which charges a 30% commission on all subscriptions.But the EU later dropped that to focus on how Apple prevents app makers from telling their users about cheaper ways to pay for subscriptions that don맥스카지노�t involve going through an app.The investigation found that Apple banned streaming services from telling users about how much subscription offers cost outside of their apps, including links in their apps to pay for alternative subscriptions or even emailing users to tell them about different pricing options.The fine comes the same week that new EU rules are set to kick in that are aimed at preventing tech companies from dominating digital markets.The Digital Markets Act, due to take effect Thursday, imposes a set of do's and don'ts on 맥스카지노�gatekeeper맥스카지노� companies including Apple, Meta, Google parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance 맥스카지노� under threat of hefty fines.The DMA's provisions are designed to prevent tech giants from the sort of behavior that's at the heart of the Apple investigation. Apple has already revealed how it will comply, including allowing iPhone users in Europe to use app stores other than its own and enabling developers to offer alternative payment systems.The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple맥스카지노�s mobile payments service, and the company has promised to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment system to rivals in order to resolve it.