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UK’s Apple App Store Investigation Adds Spotify Podcasts

By  |  November 1, 2022

Apple stopped Spotify from circumventing its App Store fees for audiobooks, and now, Spotify is allegedly speaking with the British competition watchdog over the incident.

Spotify wants to sell audiobooks within its app by sending customers to its website. Apple doesn’t allow this for individual goods, though a rule was passed to allow subscription services to link to the external subscription page.

Related: Spotify Meets With UK’s CMA Over Apple’s App Store Fees

After denying Spotify several app updates, the streamer finally complied and removed audiobook purchases from its app. However, according to a report from The Telegraph, Spotify wants this latest problem investigated by the British Competition and Markets Authority.

It isn’t clear exactly what occurred per the report, but Spotify allegedly met with the CMA to raise concerns about Apple’s decision to block app updates. An anonymous source reports that Spotify executives called on the CMA to accelerate its inquiry into Apple.