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 and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), has joined the European Commission in asking The American company, on Tuesday, November 13, put an end to its geoblocking practices in European territory.
Geoblocking consists of restricting or modifying the services and content offered to users based on their geographical 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” geo-blocking 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 geo-blocking. “No company, 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.
The European authorities criticize three elements in particular: the blockade of “multimedia service interfaces” depending on the country, the inability for users to use payment methods that are not from the country where their Apple account was registered, as well as the inability to download applications offered in another country, even when they temporarily remain in the latter. The European Union gives Apple one month to offer commitments to address identified content restrictions.
