New warning shot for Apple. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC), which brings together national consumer protection authorities, such as the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), has joined the European Commission to ask the American company, Tuesday, November 13, to put an end to its geoblocking practices on European territory.
Geoblocking consists of restricting or modifying the services and content offered to users based on their geographic location. Concretely, this means that a French user, for example, cannot download the same applications or view the same content as a Slovenian user.
The European Commission says it has identified several cases “potentially prohibited” geoblocking on “certain Apple media services, namely App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, iTunes Store, Apple Books and Apple Podcasts”. “We are intensifying the fight against geoblocking. No business, regardless of its size, should unfairly discriminate against its customers based on their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment”declared Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner.
Three elements in particular are criticized by the European authorities: the blocking of “multimedia service interfaces” depending on the country, the impossibility for users to use means of payment which are not from the country where their Apple account was registered, as well as the impossibility of downloading applications offered in another country, including when they stay temporarily in the latter. The European Union is giving Apple one month to offer commitments to address the identified content restrictions.
