Spotify-backed coalition urges CMA to speed up curbs on app store fees

A group of consumer technology companies including Spotify and Epic Games is urging UK competition watchdogs to accelerate curbs on commission that Apple and Google levy on third-party app developers.

Sky News has seen a submission from the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) to a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) consultation on a Steering Conduct Requirement, arguing that app store fees should be barred until the regulator sets out its proposals for a new industry framework.

In an accompanying letter to Doug Gurr, the former Amazon UK boss who chairs the CMA, and the watchdog's chief executive, Sarah Cardell, CAF spokesman Dominic Fean said applicable fees should remain at zero "while Apple and Google collect and submit the evidence needed to justify any cost-based fee, and unless and until such a fee has been accepted by the CMA".

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The coalition said a proposed three-month window between the CMA's final decision and the Steering Conduct Requirement coming into force was impossible to justify, and said it should be shortened to "days, rather than months".

CAF's intervention comes months after the CMA labelled Apple and Google "an effective duopoly" by preventing app developers from informing customers that they can pay directly and often more cheaply to access their services outside one of the two tech behemoths' app stores.

"CAF's primary position is that there should be no fee for steering," it said in its submission.

"If the CMA nevertheless permits a fee, it should be limited to demonstrated costs and assessed against clear criteria.

"The platform should carry the burden of proof throughout."

CAF met with the CMA last month to discuss the issue, which has become a key focus of the regulator's renewed focus on digital markets.

To circumvent the commissions charged by Apple and Google, CAF members such as Spotify have prevented users from buying monthly subscriptions in the Apple app store to avoid paying the associated fees and passing them onto consumers.

Will Hayter, a CMA director, said earlier this year: "This is not only because choice is inherently valuable but also because we see this as the best way to introduce some competitive pressure in a vital part of the mobile ecosystem that is otherwise sorely lacking such pressure," he said.

(c) Sky News 2026: Spotify-backed coalition urges CMA to speed up curbs on app store fees