Apple loses spat with EU over App Store and iPhone rules

Apple Inc. has lost a fight in a European Union court to prevent its App Store and iPhone operating system from being hit by the full force of the bloc’s antitrust crackdown on Big Tech.

Judges at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg rejected Apple’s challenge to services targeted under the EU’s Digital Markets Act and said regulators were right to include the two services within the scope of the rules.

The court said it “confirmed Apple’s appointment as gatekeeper in relation to the App Store and iOS and found the actions regarding the iMessage service unacceptable.”

In response to the decision, an Apple spokesperson said the company believes “the DMA’s authority goes beyond what is lawful and proportionate and threatens to erode decades-old privacy and security protections.”

Apple, seen as the biggest renegade to EU pressure, had objected to the law’s implementation on three fronts: the EU’s obligation to run rival hardware in its iPhone, the regulator’s decision to subject the highly profitable App Store to rules, and its decision to investigate whether iMessage faced rules it later evaded.

Wednesday’s ruling could be challenged in the bloc’s top court, while in the meantime it could strengthen regulators’ appetite to rein in Silicon Valley firms that use the DMA, which both Apple and Donald Trump’s White House have widely disdained.

At a hearing last year, Cupertino, California-based Apple argued that the law “imposes extremely burdensome and intrusive burdens” that conflict with Apple’s rights in the EU market.

At the time, these claims were rejected by the European Commission; The bloc’s lawyers argued that Apple’s “absolute control” over the iPhone allowed it to make “extraordinary profits in complementary markets where its rivals are handicapped and unable to compete with it on equal terms.”

The DMA entered the EU’s books in 2023 and is designed to clip the wings of the world’s largest tech platforms with a set of dos and don’ts. But since the law was introduced by regulators in Brussels, it has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump and negatively affected EU-US trade talks.

Apple’s App Store has so far faced a €500 million ($571 million) fine for alleged violations. – a fine that must also be appealed.