Julie Clover
The US Department of Justice is preparing to sue Apple for violating antitrust laws as early as Thursday, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit will be the culmination of an investigation that originally began in 2019 as an antitrust probe into Big Tech companies. US regulators have already sued Google, Meta and Amazon.
Over the past few Over the years, Apple representatives have met repeatedly with the Justice Department, and the investigation has covered everything from iMessage to advertising practices. Some of the questions the DOJ examined:
- How Apple Watch works better with iPhone than other smartwatches.
- How Apple blocks competitors' access to iMessage.
- How Apple blocks competitors from iMessage.
- How Apple prevents financial companies from offering tap-to-pay services similar to Apple Pay.
- Does Apple favor its own apps and services versus those provided by third-party developers.
- How Apple blocked cloud gaming apps from the App Store.
- How Apple limits location services iPhone from devices that compete with AirTag.
- How app Tracking Transparency has affected advertising data collection.
- Fees for in-app purchases charged by Apple.
>
Apple competitors such as Tile, Beeper, Basecamp, Meta and Spotify have also held talks with antitrust investigators to air complaints about Apple's practices, as have major banks. According to Bloomberg, the Department of Justice plans to allege that Apple used illegal methods to maintain a dominant position in the market by blocking competitors from accessing the hardware and software features of the iPhone.
Back in 2020, the United States Judiciary Subcommittee Investigation The House concluded that Apple, Meta, Google and Amazon have “the kinds of monopolies” last seen in the “era of oil barons and railroad tycoons.” The subcommittee recommended a new antitrust law, but the Justice Department decided to target Google before going after Apple because Apple was embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit with Epic Games.
Apple had to make radical changes in the way it App in iOS 17.4 Store operates in the European Union under the Digital Markets Act, and was recently fined $2 billion in Europe for anti-competitive behavior towards rival music services.
Tag: Apple Antitrust[ 425 comments ]
