Apple appeared to threaten Epic Games, when the company cancelled its developer account for the second time, and cited the developer’s public criticisms of the iPhone maker as one of the reasons.
The European Commissioner, who heads up the executive branch of the European Union, has now suggested that this breaks the law …
The background in two paragraphs
Epic Games broke App Store rules when it introduced its own in-app payment system, in a move intended to escape Apple’s 30% cut. Apple responded by closing the developer’s account, and the two companies went to court.
The net result of the US court battle – and the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) law – is that Apple must allow third-party app stores. The company reluctantly announced it would do so, but on terms which have been described as malicious compliance.
Apple threatens Epic
Epic opened a new App Store developer account, and Apple closed it, stating in part that the iPhone maker did not trust the games company to stick to the rules this time around.
However, Phil Schiller went further in an email, and cited a tweet by Tim Sweeney which was critical of Apple.
You have described our DMA compliance plan as “hot garbage,” a “horror show,” and a “devious new instance of Malicious Compliance.” And you have complained about what you called “Junk Fees” and “Apple taxes.”
The apparent subtext here was that Epic had better not criticise Apple in public if it knew what was good for it.
EU Commissioner wastes no words
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton yesterday tweeted a red light emoji, and wrote:
Under the #DMA, there is no room for threats by gatekeepers to silence developers. I have asked our services to look into Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account as a matter of priority.
One of the architects of the DMA, German MEP Andreas Schwab, has said that Apple’s actions amount to the company effectively asking to be the first gatekeeper to be sanctioned under the new law. Per Wired:
Schwab, who led the negotiations that finalized the DMA on behalf of the EU Parliament, says that makes Apple a likely first target for non-compliance. “[This] gives me a very clear expectation that they want to be the first,” he tells WIRED. “Apple’s approach is a bit weird on all this and therefore it’s low hanging fruit.”
The DMA allows Apple to be fined billions of dollars if it is found in breach of the law.
9to5Mac’s Take
This is a mess.
As we said before, Apple would likely have been on safe ground if it had simply told Epic “you broke our rules before, we don’t trust you not to break them again” and left it at that. Provided that room was left for negotiation on what safeguards would be required to allow Epic to return to the App Store, the matter would have been quietly resolved.
But citing Epic’s public criticism of Apple as a factor in the decision turned it into a far more controversial issue.
Previously, Apple was fighting two separate battles, one in the US over Epic, and another in Europe over the DMA. By taking this stance, Apple has effectively merged the two battles into one, and now has to fight both of them in the EU.
Photo by Elti Meshau on Unsplash
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