US Senators target Apple and Google app store monopolies with new bill

Yesterday, the US Senate introduced a bill to equalise the power tech giants including Apple and Google have over the app store market

Under the new bipartisan Open App Markets Act, app stores will no longer be able to force developers to use their store’s payment systems.

The bill will prohibit major players in the tech field like Apple and Google from punishing developers for offering lower prices on a seperate app store. It also will ban the tech giants from preventing developers to offer their own payment systems.

The bill would also make it unlawful for the tech giants to use non-public data from their app stores to create competing products against companies who are using their service.

Senators Richard Blumenthal, Marsha Blackburn, and Amy Klobuchar introduced the bill to congress yesterday

The senators who introduced the bill said that it will give mobile users more control over their own devices.

“For years, Apple and Google have squashed competitors and kept consumers in the dark; pocketing hefty windfalls while acting as supposedly benevolent gatekeepers of this multi-billion dollar market,” Blumenthal said in a statement Wednesday.

“This bipartisan bill will help break these tech giants’ ironclad grip, open the app economy to new competitors.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal

Apple released a statement in response to the bill yesterday saying, “The App Store is the cornerstone of our work to connect developers and customers in a way that is safe and trustworthy.”

“Our focus is on maintaining an App Store where people can have confidence that every app must meet our rigorous guidelines and their privacy and security is protected.”

Apple VS. Epic Games

This comes after a long dispute between Apple and Epic Games. Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, accused Apple of using its control over the app store market to breach free market laws. Specifically, those forbidding the misuse of market power.

The Coalition for App Fairness said, “We have worked toward creating a fairer and more competitive app marketplace for both developers and consumers”.

“The bipartisan Open App Markets Act is a step towards holding big tech companies accountable for practices that stifle competition for developers in the U.S. and around the world”.