Apple Inc. is set to face the first-ever fine under the European Union’s new digital antitrust rules for Big Tech, representing an escalation of a clash with regulators over the dominance of its hugely profitable App Store. Watchdogs are readying the penalty after the iPhone maker failed to allow app developers to steer users to cheaper deals and offers outside of the App Store, according to people familiar with the case, who spoke anonymously. Under the tough new Digital Markets Act, the penalty is set to come just months after Cupertino, California-based Apple was hit with a €1.8 billion ($2 billion) fine for similar abuses under the bloc’s traditional competition rules — involving music streaming service Spotify. Under the law, EU regulators have powers to fine the world’s most powerful tech firms 10% of their global annual sales, 20% in the event of repeated infringements, or periodic fines of as much as 5% of the average daily revenue.
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