Apple forbids you to put a link or a text message in your app to inform the users that they could pay for a subscription or product on a webpage.
So how can we spin "forcing developers not to inform users so users pay more and Apple makes more money" in such a way where this is not "screwing users". If I was a fanboy I would say that "most iOS users are poor old grandmas and to much information and options is too much for them AND for sure the grandma hit I agree on the TOS where Apple says that they force users to hide useful information"
Let's see if the EU says "No, it is" and shakes apple for some money.
1. Is Apple using their platform to promote their services? Yes.
2. Is Apple making it harder for competition to compete on their platform? Yes. Someone mentioned Apple Music is not a subject to 15-30% fees while Spotify is.
3. Are companies building platforms to do exactly that? Also yes. There’s no point in building platform and not using the benefits of controlling it.
So where does that leave us? Apple is doing exactly as you’d expect it to do. Government will try to restrict that, that’s what it’s for. What I don’t get is why people are so emotional about it. It’s all out in the open, why pretend Apple isn’t using their platform ownership to undermine completion? Why get upset that they do? People perceive this situation as black and white, nothing in between.