Italy’s competition and antitrust authority announced Tuesday that it has launched a formal investigation into Apple, focusing on whether the company is meeting its obligations under the European Digital Markets Act.
Under that law, Apple is required to allow third-party consumer cloud service providers to work seamlessly and at no cost with the hardware and software components that make up its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. Those outside providers must also be given the same level of access that Apple grants to its own iCloud service.
The Italian regulator stated that it had gathered evidence suggesting rival cloud service providers are not being placed on equal footing with iCloud, as they do not appear to have access to the same system components that Apple makes available to its own service.
This marks the first investigation the Italian watchdog has launched under the Digital Markets Act, a European regulation that gives national authorities the power to carry out preliminary inquiries into potential violations.
The authority confirmed that once its investigation is complete, the results will be submitted to the European Commission for further review.
