The EU orders Apple to stop geo-blocking its apps

On Tuesday (November 12), the EU asked Apple to stop geo-blocking its services on apps, such as Apple Arcade, App Store, iTunes Store, Apple Music, Books, and Podcasts.

Apple has a practice of restricting certain content based on the user’s geographic location. He has too Different user interface for different countries.

It is worth noting, however, that Geo-blocking content is standard practice in the streaming industry. Platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and Disney Plus offer different catalogs for different locations. This is due to various licensing and copyright agreements.

Speaking of Apple, there are also a lot of restrictions when it comes to payment methods. Users can only pay with cards issued in their own country – or the country from which they registered their Apple account.

Therefore, if you are traveling to another country, you may not be able to download apps if they are not already available in your country of residence.

EU Position on Geo-Blocking

There are many uses of geo-blocking above is not allowed in the EU under the 2018 geoblocking regulation. The European Commission and Consumer Protection Commission network feel that users should be able to download whatever apps are available in a country even if they are only traveling or visiting temporarily.

Therefore, an investigation was launched, led by the German Bundesnetzagentur, the Belgian Directorate General of Economic Research, and the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), under the supervision of the European Commission (EC ).

In the end, the European Commission issued a warning to Apple and asked it to stop these practices.

Speaking about the same, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said “We are contributing to the fight against geo-blocking. No company, big or small, should unfairly discriminate against customers based on their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment.”

Apple has month to acknowledge the order and make sure he sticks to it. If it does not, national regulators will take the necessary steps to ensure enforcement.