Sen. Amy Klobuchar plans to hold antitrust subcommittee hearings on App Store
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who was recently installed as chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, on Wednesday said she plans to investigate tech-related topics including app stores.
Source: ABC News
Klobuchar, long an opponent of dominance in Big Tech, told CNN reporter Brian Fung that she plans to hold multiple standalone hearings on tech antitrust issues like app store policies and news publishing. Hearings on agriculture, cable, and transportation are also on the docket.
The senator has yet to ask company CEOs to testify, saying those hearings lean more toward theater than fact finding, Fung reports. She has not, however, ruled the possibility out, saying, "We're looking at everything."
Apple CEO Tim Cook last year testified in front of the U.S. House Antitrust Subcommittee following a probe into Big Tech. The iPhone maker was under the microscope for its App Store policies, specifically App Store fees, and allegations of "copy-acquire-kill" strategies.
As noted by Klobuchar, app stores -- both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store -- will be a focus of the subcommittee in coming months.
Allegations of monopolistic practices gained traction last year when Epic Games blatantly flouted App Store policy when it updated its game Fortnite to include a method of direct in-app purchase payment. Apple pulled the title, triggering a well planned legal thrust that has morphed into a worldwide struggle over developer rights.
Along with congressional scrutiny, Apple faces pressure from individual states that seek to loosen the company's grip on its app marketplace by allowing third-party payments systems and, potentially, app stores on iOS.
Klobuchar is no stranger to the tech game and in February introduced the "Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021," which seeks to reform antitrust laws by granting more punitive power to legislators. The bill also takes action against monopsonies, possibly paving the way for stricter App Store oversight.
Source: ABC News
Klobuchar, long an opponent of dominance in Big Tech, told CNN reporter Brian Fung that she plans to hold multiple standalone hearings on tech antitrust issues like app store policies and news publishing. Hearings on agriculture, cable, and transportation are also on the docket.
The senator has yet to ask company CEOs to testify, saying those hearings lean more toward theater than fact finding, Fung reports. She has not, however, ruled the possibility out, saying, "We're looking at everything."
Apple CEO Tim Cook last year testified in front of the U.S. House Antitrust Subcommittee following a probe into Big Tech. The iPhone maker was under the microscope for its App Store policies, specifically App Store fees, and allegations of "copy-acquire-kill" strategies.
As noted by Klobuchar, app stores -- both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store -- will be a focus of the subcommittee in coming months.
Allegations of monopolistic practices gained traction last year when Epic Games blatantly flouted App Store policy when it updated its game Fortnite to include a method of direct in-app purchase payment. Apple pulled the title, triggering a well planned legal thrust that has morphed into a worldwide struggle over developer rights.
Along with congressional scrutiny, Apple faces pressure from individual states that seek to loosen the company's grip on its app marketplace by allowing third-party payments systems and, potentially, app stores on iOS.
Klobuchar is no stranger to the tech game and in February introduced the "Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021," which seeks to reform antitrust laws by granting more punitive power to legislators. The bill also takes action against monopsonies, possibly paving the way for stricter App Store oversight.
Comments
No, social platforms like Facebook will be front and center here. Things like the Instagram acquisition and other kinds of anti-competitive practices need to be looked at. Not to mention privacy and security aspects. The idea we should all sit around with our thumbs up our asses while we let people like Mark Zuckerberg do whatever they like is not going to fly.
You’re walking a fine line if you want to argue that’s not a misogynistic reference to her sex.
As for Apple making a lot of money, this has more to do with people wanting to buy Apple products and services than Apple being anti-competitive. Look at where Microsoft still is. It's difficult to treat a companies worth by its market valuation because the company doesn't own all those shares but Microsoft continues to bring in lots of money every year yet I haven't seen much press on their continued anticompetitive behavior. I agree with others who feel Facebook and Google's anti-privacy behavior is more important to investigate than Apple's App Store.
1. She is in fact a woman.
2. Her being a woman was not made an issue by anyone other than you.
3. The insult was made to her personally. It was not "women should stay away from matters that require depth and nuance." As if people commenting on a tech site are unaware of all the women that have won Nobel Prizes or been CEOs of billion dollar corporations or something. It was Klobuchar stay away from matters that require depth and nuance. Good grief, did you see anyone on here telling the judge who screamed at Epic Games' lawyers to "stay away from matters that require depth and nuance"? Because that judge was female also.
On this site if you are pro-Apple you get praised and if you are anti-Apple you get bashed. Simple as that. While this site did have issues with racist and classist commenters - though not misogynistic ones really - in the past that was cleared up by the hard work that moderators put in years ago (to the point that even legitimate right wing comments get hammered by the mods from time to time due their deciding to err on the side of caution or whatever).
"acquire" has a different implication, that Apple are buying out competitors or feature providers, only to remove them. I'm not sure I can think of any examples of that though, the acquisitions that spring to mind all resulted in enhancements to Apple products.
I highly doubt they would have. The word "woman" was there for an emphasis, and an unpleasant one.
Give it a rest.
This is a tech blog, not a social justice blog.