The federal government of the United States is keeping an eye on the monopolistic practices of big technology.
After the lawsuits of the Department of Justice against Google and the Federal Communications Commission against Amazon and Meta, now it is Apple's turn.
The Department of Justice is finalizing a lawsuit against the company led by Tim Cook for monopolistic practices that it considers illegal, according to Bloomberg, which indicates that the legal action could be filed this Thursday.
The promotion of competition and the fight against monopolies are some of the policies that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has as his banner.
His administration has not only sued the technology giants, but has also shown its opposition to mergers and acquisitions that he believed could reduce competition in the market.
Microsoft managed to push through the Activision purchase in court despite opposition from the authorities, but other operations have been derailed.
THE Department of Justice filed two lawsuits against Google, one for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the search engine market, which has gone to trial and is awaiting sentencing, and another for its monopolistic actions in the advertising market. digital, which is still being processed.
Now, that same Department, headed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has put Apple in its sights, a company that he had already accused in two other smaller cases.
The new lawsuit accuses the tech giant of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing the hardware and software features of its iPhone, according to Bloomberg.
The publication of the news by the financial agency has caused a sharp immediate drop of 1% in Apple's price in trading after the closing of the session.
For a company worth $2.7 trillion on the stock market, that is a loss in value of about $27 billion.
The offensive against Apple does not come only from Washington.
This same month, the European Commission has imposed a fine of 1,840 million euros on the company for abuse of a dominant position in the streaming music market
.
The bankruptcy of European Competition laws occurs, according to the European Commission, because the American technology company prevents its competitors, for example, Spotify, from reaching their potential customers who use iPhone or iPad and offering them alternative services to Apple Music or more offers. cheap
In addition, Apple also faces demands from its competitors.
The offensive has intensified this Wednesday when Meta Platforms, Microsoft, the social network payments in your app store.
Tech companies, which have developed some of the most popular apps in the App Store, say Apple has “clearly” failed to comply with the 2021 court order by making it harder for consumers to pay for digital content more cheaply.
Epic sued Apple in 2020, alleging that it violated antitrust laws by forcing consumers to obtain apps through the App Store and charging developers up to 30% commissions on purchases.
The court order required Apple to allow developers to provide links and buttons to direct consumers to alternative payment options.
Last week, Epic demanded that Apple be held in contempt, claiming that new rules and a new 27% fee imposed on developers made links effectively useless.
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