The consumer association CLCV (Consumer housing and living environment) has launched a group action against the American giant Apple, accusing it of having overcharged users’ subscriptions to online music services, it said in a press release on Monday.
According to the CLCV, which filed this summons on November 7 with the Paris judicial court, “French consumers have suffered economic damage due to the additional cost paid each month” on their subscription to music streaming applications such as Spotify or Deezer.
“Apple’s internal payment system is accompanied by a commission levied on each subscription passed on to the prices paid by consumers,” detailed the CLCV in its press release, estimating that “subscriptions taken out from an iPhone or iPad (were) more expensive by 1 to 3 euros per month than those purchased directly on the sites”.
The association claims to have observed this overbilling until 2016 for Spotify and 2024 for Deezer. She also accuses the Apple group of preventing these platforms “from informing consumers of the existence of these cheaper offers”. With its action, the CLCV thus wishes to “compensate” consumers “who paid for their subscriptions to streaming music services via the App Store between 2011 and 2025”.
“Unfounded action” according to Apple
“This legal action is without merit,” responded an Apple spokesperson, emphasizing that “the European digital music market is thriving and competitive, and consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to music streaming services. »
The CLCV bases its action on a decision by the European Commission, which in March 2024 imposed a fine of 1.8 billion euros on Apple for non-compliance with EU competition rules in the online music market, at the end of an investigation opened in June 2020 after a complaint from Spotify.
The American giant was sanctioned for having put in place restrictions involving application developers from promoting alternative and cheaper services available outside its ecosystem to users of its devices. Apple, which considers itself in compliance, has filed an appeal with the EU court to have this sanction annulled.
In a blog post published in March 2024, the American company defended itself by indicating that in the case of Spotify, it had not charged commission on subscriptions for several years, these being sold on the streaming platform’s website and not its application.