The U.S. Department of Justice, along with 16 state and district attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. The ministry's statement cited the following reasons: “Apple's broad, exclusionary behavior makes it difficult for Americans to switch to another smartphone, undermines innovation in applications, products and services and imposes extraordinary costs on developers, companies and consumers.”
Apple has been accused of tying users to Apple devices by supporting its own services on Apple devices and making it more difficult to use third-party services. The lawsuit specifically mentions so-called super apps that Apple blocks. Superapps are apps that act as platforms for various services from other providers. Another specific accusation: Apple is unilaterally prioritizing its messaging service, iMessage, because it can't be used adequately on non-Apple devices. Apple should also block games running on servers on the Internet. Apple denies all the allegations. A certain amount of fine will be imposed In an 88-page statement of claim Not Specified – According to the lawsuit, various states' antitrust laws are being violated, which can lead to various individual penalties.
The new lawsuit from the US follows the EU Commission's fine of $1.84 billion against Apple (“Swiss IT Reseller” report). Additionally, this is not the only current US lawsuit against tech companies. Similar competitive actions are underway against Google, Amazon and Meta. (ubi)
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