Italy launches antitrust investigation into Apple, Google, and Dropbox

The antitrust authority in Italy has announced that it is investigating allegations over fairness and improper commercial practices over cloud services by Apple, Google, and Dropbox.

Alongside its recent investigation into alleged price fixing, Italy's antitrust regulator has announced that it is separately looking how companies including Apple are running their cloud service businesses in the country.

According to Reuters, Italy's L'Autorit Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) says that it has opened the inquiry following allegations to do with contracts regarding the cloud businesses of Apple, Google, and Dropbox.

"The proceedings relate to alleged improper commercial practices and the possible inclusion of unfair clauses in contract conditions," said the authority in a statement seen by Reuters.

No further details have been released, and as yet Apple has not publicly commented.

This latest antitrust investigation joins very many similar ones facing Apple around the world. The company is currently being investigated over issues regarding Apple Music, the App Store, Apple Pay and more.

Italy's AGCM has previously found against Apple in a case concerning the company's intentional slowing down of iPhones with older batteries. In 2018, the authority levied a 10 million euro ($11.1M) fine which Apple then unsuccessfully appealed.

6 Comments

donjuan 61 comments · 8 Years

About 4 years ago

Eurotrash.

dysamoria 3430 comments · 12 Years

Dropbox? Why Dropbox?

ericthehalfbee 4489 comments · 13 Years

Cash grab, plain and simple. I read Apples TOS for iCloud and they’re very reasonable.

They’re taking the terms and dumbing them down to a single sentence to try and make them appear egregious.

For example, the types of data losses Apple is talking about include natural disasters, war, government intervention or you losing your password for encrypted data. Things they have no control over. Yet they want to imply Apple takes no precautions and has a careless attitude towards your data, and they protect themselves by claiming no liability for losses.

gatorguy 24597 comments · 13 Years

ericthehalfbee said:

Cash grab, plain and simple. I read Apples TOS for iCloud and they’re very reasonable.

They’re taking the terms and dumbing them down to a single sentence to try and make them appear egregious.

For example, the types of data losses Apple is talking about include natural disasters, war, government intervention or you losing your password for encrypted data. Things they have no control over. Yet they want to imply Apple takes no precautions and has a careless attitude towards your data, and they protect themselves by claiming no liability for losses.

You left out a fair bit. From another site's explanation:
First, that the companies state they have the right to suspend the service, even though users may rely on them for access to important documents.
Second, the cloud services claim they cannot be held liable for loss of data, even if it includes everything the user stores there.
Third, that the companies reserve the right to change the terms and conditions at any time.
Finally, that the English version of the contract takes precedence over the Italian one, even if it’s the Italian version which was accepted by customers.
The investigation falls under the antitrust heading as it will be argued that the companies are so dominant in their fields that they can impose any terms they like, fair or unfair.

MplsP 4005 comments · 8 Years

dysamoria said:

Dropbox? Why Dropbox?

Yeah, I was wondering that, too. Dropbox is certainly the dominant cloud storage service but it’s by no means the only one and doesn’t seem like a monopoly, IMO. @gatorguy ’s explanation may have something to do with it.

I have to agree - if you give customers a contract in one language then go back and say another contract in a different language that they didn’t agree to is the one that applies it sure seems like fraud.