EU regulators reportedly will fine Apple more than $500 million in antitrust probe

European regulators are reportedly set to slap Apple Inc. with a fine of more than $500 million, saying the tech giant unfairly hindered its music-streaming rivals.
The Financial Times and Bloomberg News reported Sunday that European Commission antitrust regulators are preparing to impose a roughly $500 million euro ($539 million) fine against Apple AAPL, -0.84%, after finding that it created an anticompetitive environment by failing to inform iPhone users that cheaper, alternative music-streaming apps were available outside its App Store.
The investigation was sparked by a complaint that Spotify SA SPOT, +0.30% filed in 2019. While EU regulators have previously imposed large antitrust fines against Big Tech companies such as Google’s Alphabet GOOGL, -1.58% GOOG, -1.51% and Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.61%, it has never imposed an antitrust fine against Apple.
The FT reported the fine is expected to be announced in early March.
Apple declined to comment Sunday, but referred to a previous statement, that said “The App Store has helped Spotify become the top music streaming service across Europe and we hope the European Commission will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit.”
Meanwhile, the FT and Bloomberg also reported that the European Commission is close to accepting a settlement from Apple in a separate antitrust case, over its Apple Pay system.