The Italian Antitrust Authority said Tuesday that it has opened an investigation into Apple for allegedly breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) in relation to cloud services.
It that, while Apple is obliged ensure that third-party providers are granted free and effective interoperability with the iOS and iPadOS operating systems under the act, it has evidence that third-party consumer-cloud providers may not be placed on an equal footing as Apple’s iCloud.
“This is because they appear to lack access to the same features used by or otherwise made available to iCloud,” the authority said.
“For example, it appears that Apple does not allow alternative cloud storage services to use the iOS and iPadOS features enabling end users to perform a full backup of their devices’ data, while those same features are available to Apple’s iCloud”.
The Antitrust said the launch of the probe marked the first time is has used its powers under article 38 of the DMA to implement EU regulations in the digital sector.
It said the investigation was launched in close cooperation with the European Commission and the findings will be shared with it to support it in its role as sole DMA enforcer.
