A Bad Apple

Big Tech is facing a reckoning.

Image: Badly edited by author

Currently, Google is being sued by the U.S. Justice Department for monopolizing digital advertising services, Meta has been battling an anti-monopoly case from the Federal Trade Commission, and Amazon is now facing a similar case. Microsoft’s now-closed acquisition of game maker Activision is still under scrutiny, with the FTC seeking to block it under competitive law.

Now, it’s Apple’s turn to face the heat.

Last week, it was announced that the company is being sued by the US Department of Justice and 16 state and district attorneys general. It is accused of monopolizing the smartphone market.

You can read the lawsuit here, but to summarize, the DOJ is claiming that Apple has used its “control of app distribution or control of APIs” to suppress:

1. Super apps, which would allow consumers to switch between smartphone platforms. They claim this also harms iPhone users, denying them access to high-quality experiences and harms developers by preventing them from innovating and selling products.
2. Cloud-streaming apps that would allow for high-quality video gameplay without having to pay for extra hardware. Apple is denying users the ability to play high-compute games, and preventing developers from selling such games. (Note: Apple has already taken…