Apple Antitrust

The United States Federal Trade Commission today teamed up 46 states, the District of Columbia, and the territory of Guam to sue Facebook for maintaining an illegal social networking monopoly through years of anticompetitive conduct. Facebook is accused of engaging in a "systematic strategy" to eliminate threats to its monopoly, which included the 2012 acquisition of Instagram and the 2014...

An antitrust lawsuit leveled at Apple by Blix Inc. has been dismissed by a federal judge, in what appears to be a major setback for developers accusing Apple of malpractice with its App Store (via Bloomberg). BlueMail was removed from the Mac App Store in June 2019 after Apple found the app to be in violation of several ‌App Store‌ Review Guidelines, including "proposing to override basic...

Apple has been slapped with a 10 million euro ($12 million) fine by Italy's antitrust watchdog for unfair commercial practices related to its iPhone marketing in the country. One of the Apple ads cited in the Italian watchdog's proceedings (credit: setteBIT) Specifically, Apple is being charged for misleading claims in promotional messages about how deep and how long iPhones can be submerged...

A number of industry players, including Spotify, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, and Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson, have today criticized Apple's move to launch a new App Store Small Business Program that will halve App Store fees for small business owners and independent developers (via The Verge). After Apple announced the new program, Spotify released a statement saying that it...

Apple and Amazon are set to face antitrust scrutiny in Germany over a policy that forbids independent sellers from retailing Apple products on Amazon, Bloomberg reports. Germany's antitrust regulator, the Federal Cartel Office, has launched a probe into Apple and Amazon over the policy of "brandgating." The policy allows the makers of branded products, such as the iPhone, to have...

Starting early next year, iOS 14 will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their random advertising identifier, which advertisers use to deliver personalized ads and track how effective their campaigns were. Ahead of this change, The Wall Street Journal reports that advertising companies and publishers have filed a complaint against Apple with France's competition...

As the European Union increasingly targets big tech companies, top antitrust enforcer Margrethe Vestager has warned against the structural break up of big tech companies (via The Information). The comments were somewhat surprising, as Vestager has aggressively pursued antitrust investigations against the likes of Apple, Google, and Amazon in recent years. For example, it was Vestager who...

The United States Justice Department is targeting a lucrative deal between Apple and Google as part of one of the U.S. government's largest antitrust cases, reports The New York Times. On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, claiming the Mountain View-based company used anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and advertising markets to ...

The United States Justice Department today filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, claiming the Mountain View-based company has used anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and advertising markets to maintain an unlawful monopoly. "Today, millions of Americans rely on the Internet and online platforms for their daily lives. Competition in this industry is vitally...

Japan has followed the United States, Australia, and numerous countries around the world in preparing to heavily regulate big tech companies, including Apple, due to antitrust disputes and fears about market control (via Reuters). Japan is reportedly "laying the groundwork" to regulate big tech companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of Japan's...

EU regulators are taking aim at up to 20 big tech companies, including Apple, as part of a "hit list" that seeks to curb their market influence, reports The Financial Times. The plans reportedly involve the demand that larger tech companies face tougher regulations than smaller competitors, data sharing with rivals, and increased transparency on data gathering. The move is part of a wider...

Australia is now investigating app store policies as part of yet another antitrust inquiry into Apple and Google (via Gizmodo). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced that it will investigate the competition between the Google Play store and Apple's App Store, access to platforms and consumers, fee structures, data collection, and price transparency. The...

Italy's antitrust regulator has today opened another inquiry into Apple for allegedly improper commercial practices with regards to cloud computing services (via Reuters). The investigation will also look into the practices of Google and Dropbox, in addition to Apple. The L'Autorit Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) did not release further information or state how long the...

Last week, multiple startup companies in Korea called for an investigation into Apple and Google's in-app purchase practices. Now, The Korea Herald has confirmed that the Korean Ministry of Science and ITC will launch an investigation to look into the two companies' "excessive commissions." The investigation will examine platform fees, payment systems, and whether Apple and Google have...

Apple's South Korea business has offered to make a 100 billion won ($84 million) payout to support small businesses and help consumers, according to the country's competition watchdog (via Reuters). The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated Apple Korea in 2016 for requiring SK Telecom, KT Corp, and LG Uplus Corp to pay the cost of television advertisements and warranty service for ...

Apple will use lawyers from Gibson Dunn, the same firm that spearheaded the second Apple v. Samsung action, in its bid to fend off a private antitrust suit leveled by Epic Games, according to software patent and litigation expert Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents. Last week, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after ‌Epic Games‌ introduced a direct payment option in the app, defying ‌Ap...

Multiple startup companies in Korea are calling for an investigation into Apple and Google's in-app purchase practices, reports The Korea Herald. An alliance of app developers and small companies submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission earlier today, asking for an investigation into whether Apple and Google may be violating Korean laws on in-app purchases and...

Just hours after Epic Games introduced a new direct payment option for Fortnite that skirts Apple's in-app purchase rules, Apple has pulled the Fortnite app from the App Store. Fortnite is no longer available for download on the iPhone or the iPad, and Apple provided a statement to MacRumors on Fortnite's removal:Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store...

Apple is facing App Store scrutiny in Russia as the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) today said (via Interfax) that Apple abused its dominant ‌App Store‌ position and limited competition in the iOS app market by banning parental control apps. The FAS began investigating Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies back in August 2019 after Apple cracked down on parental control apps using Mobile...

Internal Apple emails, made public by the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust inquiry, have revealed information about why Apple blocked in-app purchases of Kindle books on iOS devices, reports The Verge. Two sets of emails between Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, and various other senior Apple executives, disclose the exact thinking behind how Apple approached Kindle on iOS. The...