The US Department of Justice announced today that it’s suing Apple for illegally monopolizing the smartphone market and using its position “to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants.”
In the 88-page suit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Justice Department alleges that Apple is using a variety of unfair tactics to entrench its market position and restrict innovation. These include blocking so-called “Super Apps,” which would make it easier for customers to switch between smartphone platforms, imposing an effective ban on cloud streaming services for content like games, degrading the experience for cross-platform messaging apps, restricting the compatibility of non-Apple smartwatches with its phones, and barring third-party developers from accessing the iPhone’s tap-to-pay feature to offer their own digital wallets.
The lawsuit comes as Apple has been forced to reevaluate many of these long-standing policies in the European Union due to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act. Although European regulators decided against forcing Apple to open up iMessage, the company is nevertheless now required to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone in the EU and to allow developers access to the device’s tap-to-pay functionality.
Check out the full text of the Department of Justice’s filing below:
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