Spotify is accusing Apple of anti-competitive practices in Europe

LONDON — Apple’s powerful role as gatekeeper of the App Store has long frustrated the makers of apps who must abide by its rules or risk losing access to hundreds of millions of customers who own Apple devices.

Now one of Apple’s biggest rivals, the music streaming service Spotify, says Apple is abusing its position and violating European antitrust laws.

In an aggressive attempt to undercut Apple’s power, Spotify said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with European regulators, accusing Apple of using its App Store to squash companies that compete with its services, including Apple Music.

Spotify’s complaint comes at a perilous moment for the world’s biggest tech companies. Scrutiny over Silicon Valley’s power has been increasing in recent years, and it has already become a topic among Democratic presidential hopefuls.

One of them, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, last week proposed breaking up the tech giants as a remedy to their unfair advantages. One of her ideas was to separate the App Store from Apple.

“Spotify’s complaint is just the latest example of what can happen when these enormous companies abuse their power to undermine competition,” Warren said in a statement Wednesday. “We need a level playing field, and that starts by breaking up giant tech companies who both own a marketplace and operate in that same marketplace.”