App Makers Form Lobbying Group to Challenge Smartphone Manufacturers

Technology companies Meta, Spotify, Match Group and Garmin have founded a lobbying group that said it will “combat anti-competitive practices by smartphone platform owners.”

The Coalition for a Competitive Mobile Experience (CCME) will advocate for hardware and software interoperability, a level playing field in the app marketplace and age verification at the app store level, the group said in a Tuesday (April 29) press release.

Specifically, the group said that smartphone providers should ensure that competitors’ software, apps and hardware work seamlessly with their devices; app store providers should allow competing app stores to work on their operating systems without unreasonable interference; and app stores should be responsible for enforcing age-based content restrictions.

“Smartphones have become one of the most important tools in our daily lives, but the mobile experience is controlled by gatekeepers that have used their control of the market to stifle competition and choice at the expense of consumers,” CCME Director Brandon Kressin said in the release.

The issues on which the group is focused “will give consumers the power they deserve, providing more freedom and access, all while lowering costs,” Kressin said.

The formation of the CCME comes at a time when there is growing momentum for legislation that would require age verification before downloading apps, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

This legal requirement could result in lawsuits and a need to invest in systems for handling sensitive personal information, according to the report.

Representatives of app makers have argued that Apple’s and Google’s app stores should have that responsibility, while Apple and Google have said that apps should handle that task, per the report.

“Having a bill in place matters a lot, something to debate and have a discussion around,” Kressin told Bloomberg. “Hopefully there will be a path forward this year.”

It was reported in February that at least nine states were considering bills that would require app store operators to verify users’ ages and get parental consent for minors before allowing them to download apps.

While several states have passed laws that require online platforms to verify users’ ages, many of these laws have not yet been implemented because they have been challenged by lawsuits.