Apple faces class action lawsuit from 40 million UK iCloud users, faces $27.6 billion in claims

According to foreign media reports, recently, the British consumer rights organization "Which?" filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on behalf of approximately 40 million iCloud users, accusing Apple of violating competition laws and seeking up to 3 billion pounds (approximately 27.6 billion yuan) in compensation.

"Which?" accused Apple of using its market dominance to force users to register and use its own iCloud service to store personal data. The organization pointed out that Apple does not allow users to use other vendors' services to achieve the same data backup effect, and believes that iCloud charges too much.

The group said it was seeking compensation for all affected Apple customers. Preliminary estimates show that around 40 million UK Apple customers may be entitled to compensation, with the average amount of compensation available to each consumer being around £70 (about RMB 644), depending on the length of their iCloud subscription.

"Which?" also pointed out that Apple makes it difficult for users to switch to alternative providers by encouraging users to sign up for iCloud to store photos, videos and other data. Once users' data exceeds the 5GB free storage limit, they will need to pay to use the service. In addition, Apple has increased the price of UK iCloud subscriptions by 20-29% in 2023.

Apple responded that users do not have to use iCloud services, and many users are already using third-party alternatives, and emphasized that customers have the right to choose. Apple also said that they have been working hard to simplify the data transfer process, whether it is transferred to iCloud or other services.