Apple CEO Tim Cook to Meet EU Antitrust Chief Next Week

Apple CEO Tim Cook will meet the European Union's antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, next week amid a series of disputes with the organization (via Reuters).

tim cook europe privacy
Vestager is also set to meet the chief executives of Alphabet, Broadcom, and Nvidia, as well as senior executives from OpenAI. The meetings will take place in San Francisco and Palo Alto on Thursday and Friday next week, and will focus on European competition policy and digital regulation.

In December, Apple reportedly floated the ability for Apple Pay rivals to access the iPhone's NFC technology for contactless payments in the EU. The offer is designed to settle an ongoing antitrust dispute and avoid a potential fine. The European Commission is believed to be seeking feedback from rivals and customers before accepting the offer, so it is highly likely that this matter will be discussed.

Apple is also facing several other challenges in the EU that will almost certainly be the subject of discussion, such as a $14 billion tax dispute. Most strikingly, new EU rules such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) designate major tech companies as "gatekeepers" and compel them to open up their various services and platforms to other companies and developers. The DMA is expected to force Apple to make significant changes to the way the App Store, FaceTime, and Siri work in Europe. For example, Apple will next year be obliged to allow users to install third-party app stores and sideload apps, as well as give developers the ability to promote their offers outside the ‌‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌‌ and use third-party payment systems.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
hikawa phone grip stand apple%402x

Apple Launches Second Limited-Edition iPhone Accessory in a Month

Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind. Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe. Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Two Breakthrough Features

Wednesday November 19, 2025 7:26 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include two standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...

Top Rated Comments

Xenc Avatar
25 months ago
You tell em, EU! ?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ashdelacroix Avatar
25 months ago
America creates, the EU regulates. Sorry, America. I say this as a Brit who is happy to be out of the EU. This is an institution that, rightly, has concerns about global corporations with monopoly practices, but who will damage consumer choice and security by forcing my message product of choice to provide backdoors to competing message products that I do not wish to use but, tacitly, will have a share in.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
25 months ago

America creates, the EU regulates.
Honestly this doesn’t actually sound that bad. It’s well established that American corporations will take every inch and then some. That unbridled power does lead to innovation as well as abuse.

We have already seen tangible benefits from things like GDPR. Do we really want to just wait around for the American government to decide we deserve things like privacy laws and data portability?

Yes the EU goes too far, but American legislators go too far the other way. Look at the downright lies Elizabeth Warren is telling about Beeper Mini and Apple, somehow twisting it so that Apple is “blocking” Beeper’s services. I don’t think she’s stupid enough to actually believe that, which leaves lying as the most likely explanation.

It is interesting that Vestager is coming to the United States for this meeting. I would actually like to see more cooperation between American tech companies and the EU.

I know this post is just begging for downvotes, and I don’t like how it seems the EU is targeting “big tech” but so is the US government. At least most of the EU ministers seem to have some basic understanding of technology.

By the way for reference here is the Warren quote:


Green bubble texts are less secure. So why would Apple block a new app allowing Android users to chat with iPhone users on iMessage? Big Tech executives are protecting profits by squashing competitors.

Chatting between different platforms should be easy and secure.
I mean what is this? Anyone with any basic tech knowledge whatsoever understands that that is a deliberate twisting of the situation. This person is a US Senator. Someone should stop people with such power from saying such stupid things. Does she have no aids or advisors or does she just not listen to them or are they all lobbyists or what?

You’ll notice that the EU never said anything about Beeper.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
25 months ago
Going to be an interesting meeting. Would like to be a fly on the wall.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
25 months ago

America creates, the EU regulates. Sorry, America. I say this as a Brit who is happy to be out of the EU. This is an institution that, rightly, has concerns about global corporations with monopoly practices, but who will damage consumer choice and security by forcing my message product of choice to provide backdoors to competing message products that I do not wish to use but, tacitly, will have a share in.
I like that idea, since our Congress is too spineless and paid-off to do anything about US industries and tech companies.

We (US) have abdicated our responsibility to the populace.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
25 months ago

Developers already have the ability to promote their offers outside the App Store. iPhones and iPads have internet connections and allow app users to access information via the web/social media/email/texts/push notifications etc. The idea that iOS/iPadOS users are limited to the information they see in the App Store is ludicrous.
I think you misunderstood the article

"... install third-party app stores and sideload apps ('https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/17/app-sideloading-support-coming-ios-17/'), as well as give developers the ability to promote their offers outside the ‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌ and use third-party payment systems" within the app itself.

This is what the EU seeks to change.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)