Apple told by competition watchdog to end geo-blocking on App Store

Sudip Kar-Gupta, Reuters

Apple was told by the EU on Tuesday to stop geo-blocking, the practice of restricting content according to a user's geographical location, on services such as its App Store, Apple Arcade, Music, iTunes Store, Books and Podcasts.

The call comes following an investigation, co-led by Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the Belgian and German consumer authorities, on behalf of the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, where potential breaches of geo-blocking regulations were found on certain Apple media services.

The European Commission said it had identified several potentially prohibited geo-blocking practices on some Apple Media Services and threatened enforcement measures by national regulators if Apple failed to address its concerns.

"We are stepping up the fight against geo-blocking. No company, big or small, should unjustly discriminate customers based on their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment," said European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The EU said Apple had one month to propose commitments on it would address the geo-blocking it had identified.

Kevin O’Brien, member of the Ireland's Consumer Protection Commission, said: "This activity is another example of consumer protection authorities taking action on behalf of consumers across Europe. For many citizens, online products and services are an important part of their daily lives.

"All companies offering goods and digital services online are obliged to adhere to the rules on geo-blocking which are designed to ensure that consumers are not discriminated against as a result of their location. We look forward to working with Apple during the next steps of this investigation."