Apple changes EU App Store rules, but will fight Europe’s demands – Computerworld

Malicious compliance

But there is still a problem; Apple says that even though it’s been meeting intensively with European Commission regulators for more than a year, the experience has been a frustrating one. Regulators have continuously moved the goalposts on what compliance looks like. The company complains that they have even prevented Apple from implementing new solutions to bring its business into compliance and then fined the company for not making changes. 

This has placed a big burden on the company, which has had to invest thousands of hours in attempting to meet the Commission’s ever-changing demands. From what I hear, it’s akin to throwing darts at a board attached to a rope, allowing the board to move out the way once the dart is fired. It’s an unequal, opaque process seemingly designed for Apple to lose and perhaps in itself an articulation of malicious compliance — with malice from the regulators.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the changes Apple announced do actually meet European regulators’ demands. They should, as Apple is very much giving the impression they were introduced in collaboration with EC authorities.