Spotify founder urges EU to speed up the antitrust case against Apple

According to reports, Daniel Ek, the founder of streaming music application Spotify, recently went to Brussels, Belgium, to appeal to the European Commission to speed up the antitrust lawsuit against Apple. In an interview, the Swedish billionaire said he had discussed what he believed to be Apple's "obstacles to competition" with EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

Ike said, it's like a company that keeps changing and just doesn't do anything, regulators in various countries, including Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea, have taken quite a bit of action against Apple on similar issues. draconian measures, he called on the European Commission to do the same. I asked her what I could do to move the case forward. As an entrepreneur, you always want things to be done yesterday, but the regulatory process does take time. So far, I have It's normal to think it's normal, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't try to speed things up or try to make more progress.

Ike also said he hoped his visit to the European Commission would expedite the investigation into Apple, which has been going on for four years so far. It is my hope that (my visit) will raise awareness and focus on this agenda and give it a higher priority.

During this trip to Brussels, Ike met with Vestager, EU Commissioner Vera Jourova, and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to discuss why a rapid Apple antitrust investigation makes his point.

Spotify filed a complaint with EU regulators in 2019, alleging that Apple took a 30 percent cut from users' paid subscriptions to the App Store and prevented Spotify from informing users of alternative payment methods. Earlier this year, the European Commission formally accused Apple of violating EU law.

Ike said Vestager told him she, too, was frustrated with the speed of the investigation. The European Commission did not respond to the meeting, saying only that the two sides discussed competition and digital products. The European Commission has not set a deadline for a final ruling, and EU officials have not said when a final ruling is likely. Whichever party loses may appeal to courts at all levels of the EU.

Spotify's critics argue that the company has been so successful that it doesn't need regulators to crack down on Apple to survive. But Ike disagreed, saying Spotify, despite its success, was in a bad environment.

Companies unhappy with tech giants have long said regulators' antitrust investigations have yielded too few results, progressed too slowly, and done little to promote competition in the industry. Antitrust fines are often viewed by giants as a cost of doing business. In addition to the allegations against Apple, Ike also praised two recent landmark EU legislations, the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. But he believes more needs to be done to deal with a rapidly changing market.

The EU's Digital Markets Act aims to curb tech giants by prohibiting monopolistic practices, such as the propensity of big platforms to the services they provide. The act establishes rules governing the Internet, including how to monitor and remove illegal content.

Ike said, we believe that the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act provide very important cornerstones. Our question is, how are these bills actually going to be implemented? The technology industry is moving at an accelerated pace, how can we Remedy this? In these current cases, most of the remedies we see are understated and don’t necessarily get their attention.