Big tech companies including Twitter, Google and Meta are now under fire for various reasons. Twitter is slammed by its former security Chief Peiter Zatko who testified that Twitter misled users. Google and Meta are also facing intense scrutiny and pressure from different governments.

Tech Talk: Lawmakers pull up big tech firms over unfair business practices

Apple&nbsp;was&nbsp;charged by&nbsp;EU&nbsp;antitrust&nbsp;regulators on Friday of abusing its dominance in the music streaming market via restrictive rules, the first case out of four that could lead to a hefty fine and changes in its lucrative business model.

iPhone maker&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;found itself in the&nbsp;European Commission's crosshairs following a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify two years ago, which said that&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;unfairly restricts rivals to its own music streaming service&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;Music on iPhones.

The&nbsp;EU&nbsp;competition enforcer in its so-called statement of objections setting out the&nbsp;charge&nbsp;said the issue related to&nbsp;Apple's restrictive rules for its&nbsp;App&nbsp;Store&nbsp;that force developers to use its own in-app&nbsp;payment system and prevent them from informing users of other purchasing options.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/us-senators-question-apple-and-google-on-app-store-dominance-379186">US senators question Apple and Google on app store dominance</a>

"By setting strict rules on the&nbsp;App&nbsp;store&nbsp;that disadvantage competing music streaming services,&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;deprives users of cheaper music streaming choices and distorts competition,"&nbsp;European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

"This is done by charging high commission fees on each transaction in the&nbsp;App&nbsp;store&nbsp;for rivals and by forbidding them from informing their customers of alternative subscription options," she said.

This is the first&nbsp;EU&nbsp;antitrust&nbsp;charge&nbsp;against&nbsp;Apple, a move that could lead to fines of as much as 10 per cent of its global turnover. Reuters was the first to report about the imminent&nbsp;EU&nbsp;antitrust&nbsp;charge&nbsp;in March.

Apple&nbsp;will have the opportunity to respond to the&nbsp;EU&nbsp;charges before the&nbsp;EU&nbsp;competition enforcer makes a final ruling. It can offer concessions to stave off the fine without any finding of wrongdoing.

The&nbsp;EU&nbsp;charge&nbsp;comes a week before&nbsp;Apple's face-off with Epic Games in a US&nbsp;antitrust&nbsp;trial following a lawsuit by the "Fortnite" creator alleging that&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;has abused its dominance in the market for mobile&nbsp;apps.

Epic has complained to the Commission on the same issues.

Last month, the UK Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into&nbsp;Apple&nbsp;after complaints the iPhone maker's terms and conditions for&nbsp;app&nbsp;developers were unfair.

Apple was charged by EU antitrust regulators on Friday of abusing its dominance in the music streaming market via restrictive rules, the first case out of four that could lead to a hefty fine and changes in its lucrative business model.

Apple was charged by EU antitrust regulators on Friday of abusing its dominance in the music streaming market via restrictive rules, the first case out of four that could lead to a hefty fine and changes in its lucrative business model. iPhone maker Apple found itself in the European Commission's crosshairs following a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify two years ago, which said that Apple unfairly restricts rivals to its own music streaming service Apple Music on iPhones. The EU competition enforcer in its so-called statement of objections setting out the charge said the issue related to Apple's restrictive rules for its App Store that force developers to use its own in-app payment system and prevent them from informing users of other purchasing options. Also read | US senators question Apple and Google on app store dominance "By setting strict rules on the App store that disadvantage competing music streaming services, Apple deprives users of cheaper music streaming choices and distorts competition," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "This is done by charging high commission fees on each transaction in the App store for rivals and by forbidding them from informing their customers of alternative subscription options," she said. This is the first EU antitrust charge against Apple, a move that could lead to fines of as much as 10 per cent of its global turnover. Reuters was the first to report about the imminent EU antitrust charge in March. Apple will have the opportunity to respond to the EU charges before the EU competition enforcer makes a final ruling. It can offer concessions to stave off the fine without any finding of wrongdoing. The EU charge comes a week before Apple's face-off with Epic Games in a US antitrust trial following a lawsuit by the "Fortnite" creator alleging that Apple has abused its dominance in the market for mobile apps. Epic has complained to the Commission on the same issues. Last month, the UK Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into Apple after complaints the iPhone maker's terms and conditions for app developers were unfair.

Apple hit with EU antitrust charge over App Store practices

Photographer exposes Samsung's unfair practice

Google has been fined Rs 136 crore for unfair business practices by the Competition Commission of India.&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Competition Commission of India imposed penalty of Rs 135.86 Cr upon Google after finding that it abused its dominant position in online general web search &amp; web search advertising services in India. Penalty imposed after taking into account its revenue from its India ops only.
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/961614485776752641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

The commission said Google had abused its dominant position in online general web search and web search advertising services in India.&nbsp;

The order was passed in response to information filed by Matrimony.com Limited and Consumer Unity &amp; Trust Society (CUTS) in 2012.&nbsp;

The penalty on Google was imposed after taking into account its revenue from its India ops only.&nbsp;

Google was in 2017 fined a record &euro;2.4bn by the EU, again for similar wrongdoing.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The commission said Google had abused its dominant position in online general web search and web search advertising services in India

Google has been fined Rs 136 crore for unfair business practices by the Competition Commission of India. Competition Commission of India imposed penalty of Rs 135.86 Cr upon Google after finding that it abused its dominant position in online general web search & web search advertising services in India. Penalty imposed after taking into account its revenue from its India ops only. — ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2018 × The commission said Google had abused its dominant position in online general web search and web search advertising services in India. The order was passed in response to information filed by Matrimony.com Limited and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) in 2012. The penalty on Google was imposed after taking into account its revenue from its India ops only. Google was in 2017 fined a record €2.4bn by the EU, again for similar wrongdoing.

Google fined Rs 136 crore for unfair business practices in India