Apple’s App Store rules enforcement are arbitrary “penalize and restrict developers” that compete with the tech giant’s “monopoly power,” the DOJ alleged.
The United States Department of Justice has slapped tech giant Apple with an extensive antitrust lawsuit claiming its app market rules and “monopoly" illegally throttled competition and suffocated innovation.
The March 21 complaint in a New Jersey federal court — supported by 16 state attorney generals — alleged Apple has a monopoly in the smartphone market that it has used to “‘force’ developers to use its payment system to lock in both developers and users on its platform.”
Apple’s App Store guidelines and developer agreements impose “a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions” that allow the company to take “higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives,” the DOJ alleged.
