Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, has intensified his longstanding dispute with Apple Inc., accusing the tech giant of persistently violating the European Union’s regulations designed to oversee major technology firms.
Ek has slammed Apple’s efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Act, calling them a “farce.”
He accused the company of following a “well-established pattern of delaying and stalling” instead of genuinely adhering to the EU’s strict rules for major tech firms.
The DMA is designed to curb the dominance of companies like Apple, Google, and Meta by enforcing fair competition and limiting anti-competitive practices.
“It is time for Europe to show that we are going to enforce the law that’s already been passed,” Ek said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, adding that crackdowns on Apple’s conduct had also become a focus for regulators in the US.
EU competition chief Teresa Ribera had pledged to decide on Apple’s compliance with the DMA by the end of March.
Under the law, she can impose fines of up to 10% of Apple’s global annual revenue for violations.
However, the EU risks provoking US President Donald Trump, who recently signed a memorandum threatening retaliatory tariffs against what he calls “disproportionate” penalties on American tech firms.
Ek had traveled to Brussels to meet with European Commission officials overseeing Apple’s compliance with the DMA.
He has been a persistent critic of Apple, pushing the EU to take action against the company’s anti-competitive practices.
His efforts led to the €1.8 billion ($2 billion) fine imposed on Apple last year after a Spotify complaint.
The commission ruled that Apple illegally blocked music-streaming apps from informing users about cheaper deals outside the App Store.
Apple declined to respond directly to Ek’s remarks but pointed to a previous statement expressing “deep concern” over a pornography app found on a third-party app store launched in the EU last year.
