The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company unlawfully kept total control over smartphones in a broad lawsuit.
The DOJ, along with 16 state attorneys general from both political parties, filed the lawsuit in New Jersey. The lawsuit accuses Apple of restricting competition and harming consumers, developers, and small businesses through its management of the company’s App Store. It also limits the features of third-party smartwatches and lowers the quality of cross-platform messaging.
DOJ Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter stated that Apple has used various rules to charge higher prices to consumers and creators, and to stifle competition from other technologies.
Kanter added that the lawsuit aims to hold Apple responsible and prevent them from using the same illegal tactics in other important markets.
Apple defended itself against the accusations, stating that the lawsuit puts their identity and the principles that make Apple products unique in highly competitive markets at risk.
The company believes that the lawsuit is based on incorrect facts and laws, and they plan to strongly oppose it.
The complaint claims that Apple created a dominant iPhone platform and ecosystem, and instead of responding to competition with lower prices or better deals for developers, it imposed changing rules and restrictions in its App Store.
The complaint also alleges that Apple used unfair tactics to keep iPhone users from using other companies' devices and services.
The complaint accuses Apple of using unfair methods to encourage users to keep buying iPhones by limiting their ability to connect with other companies' devices and services.
For instance, the government claims that Apple makes third-party messaging apps on the iPhone less effective compared to Apple’s own default messaging app.
The complaint also accuses Apple of lowering the quality of rival smartphones by limiting the functionality of messages sent from iPhones to non-iPhones and making it difficult to edit messages.
Likewise, the lawsuit accuses Apple of unfair behavior by making its Apple smartwatch only compatible with an iPhone and limiting third-party digital wallets.
The complaint also claims that Apple restricts third party digital wallets by not allowing third-party apps to offer tap-to-pay and by not allowing the creation of cross-platform third-party digital wallets.
The complaint focuses on accusations that Apple has blocked innovative “super apps,” which are defined as apps that can function as a platform for smaller or “mini” programs.
The complaint states that Apple has imposed exclusionary requirements that limit mini programs and super apps since 2017, and has enforced contractual rules with developers to prevent them from making money from mini programs, which has negative effects on both users and developers.
The complaint also claims that Apple has hindered cloud streaming game apps, preventing users from playing high-compute games and preventing developers from selling these games to users.
This lawsuit is the most recent government action against a big tech company. The DOJ has two ongoing lawsuits against Google, and the Federal Trade Commission sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Updated at 11:26 a.m.
