British consumer association Which? announced legal action against the US giant on Thursday, accusing it of “effectively locking millions of consumers” into its iCloud data storage service “at exorbitant prices”.
New lawsuit against GAFAM. The British consumer association Which? announced on Thursday a £3 billion (€3.6 billion) lawsuit against Appleaccusing it of “de facto locking in millions of consumers”. in its iCloud data storage service “at exorbitant prices”. According to the association, some 40 million customers of the Californian tech giant in the UK who have benefited from iCloud services over the past nine years could be entitled to compensation, hence the damages estimated in billions. The lawsuit, filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal, claims that the company has given its storage service preferential treatment on its devices, amounting to “trapping its customers, according to a Which?
In particular, Apple does not allow its customers to store or backup all their phone data with a third-party provider, and they must “pay for the service” house once outdated “the free 5 GB limit” points out the association, which also denounces the prices “excessive” prices charged. The association is seeking redress for all customers affected since October 1, 2015, estimating that they could be awarded an average of £70 each.
“Our users are not obliged to use iCloud and many rely on a wide range of alternative third-party solutions for data storage.”Apple told AFP. “working hard to make data transfer as easy as possible”.. “We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anti-competitive and will vigorously defend against any legal proceedings claiming otherwise.”the company added.
Apple has been fined in several countries in recent years for abuse of a dominant position, notably in France, Spain, Italy and Russia. In September, the European Court of Justice also ruled in favor of the European Commission against Apple in a long-running legal case. It ruled that the company should pay back 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland for having benefited from undue tax advantages, assimilated to illegal state aid. Generally speaking, tech giants are in the crosshairs of regulators and the courts all over the world, particularly in Europe and the United States, in matters of unfair competition and data protection.