A bipartisan trio of senators introduced a bill that would rein in app stores of companies they said exert too much market control, including Apple and Alphabet’s Google, reported Reuters.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats, teamed up with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn to sponsor the bill, which would bar big app stores from requiring app providers to use their payment system. It would also prohibit them from punishing apps that offer different prices or conditions through another app store or payment system.
“I found this predatory abuse of Apple and Google so deeply offensive on so many levels,” Blumenthal said in an interview on Wednesday, August 11. “Their power has reached a point where they are impacting the whole economy in stifling and strangling innovation.”
Blumenthal said he expected companion legislation to be introduced in the House of Representatives “very soon.” The bill would also bar app stores from using non-public information about apps to compete with them.
Also Read: Microsoft Calls For Antitrust Reviews Of App Stores
Tile, which makes tags to help consumers find lost objects, complained earlier this year about Apple launching AirTags as a rival product.
Apple’s control over what apps enter its app platform and its commissions of 15% to 30% on digital sales have come under regulatory scrutiny. A federal judge is reviewing testimony on this issue to rule on an antitrust lawsuit brought by “Fortnite” creator Epic Games.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
DirecTV and Disney Resolve Dispute, Restore Programming for Subscribers
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
UK Antitrust Authority Raises Concerns Over Vodafone-Three Merger
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Brazilian Supreme Court Lifts Freeze on Starlink Accounts, Transfers $3.3 Million to National Treasury
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Steptoe Expands Antitrust Practice with Key London Hire
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Instant Ad Auctions at the Heart of Google’s Federal Monopoly Case
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Canada & Mexico
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Competitive Convergence: Mexico’s 30-Year Quest for Antitrust Parity with its Northern Neighbor
Sep 3, 2024 by
Francisco Javier Núñez Melgoza
Competition and Digital Markets in North America: A Comparative Study of Antitrust Investigations in Mexico and the United States
Sep 3, 2024 by
Julio Garcia
Recent Antitrust Development in Mexico: COFECE’s Preliminary Report on Amazon and Mercado Libre
Sep 3, 2024 by
Alejandra Palacios Prieto
The Cost of Making COFECE Disappear
Sep 3, 2024 by
Mateo Fernández