Italy has initiated an investigation into Apple for allegedly favoring its own cloud services, which may hinder fair competition. This inquiry is seen as a measure to determine compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
According to local news agency ANSA on June 16, Italy's antitrust authority has begun a formal investigation into claims that Apple discriminated against third-party cloud service providers compared to its own iCloud service.
The authorities cited the complete backup functionality of device data as a primary example of discrimination. They explained that this core feature, which allows users to fully back up data from their Apple devices to servers, is only available to iCloud users, while access is severely restricted for users of other cloud services.
The Italian authorities stated, "This investigation has commenced in close cooperation with the European Commission, and any findings will be fully shared with the Commission."
The DMA was introduced by the EU in March 2024 to prevent the abuse of monopolistic market power by large IT companies. It designates global platform companies of a certain size as 'gatekeepers' for regulatory purposes.
Currently, Apple is one of seven companies designated as gatekeepers, five of which are based in the United States. If the investigation concludes that Apple has violated the law, the company could face hefty fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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