Apple hit with antitrust lawsuit from DOJ
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- The US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday.
- The suit accused Apple of barring rivals from being able to offer competing products on iPhones.
- It's the latest move by US and EU regulators to stop what they deem anti-competitive tactics.
The US Department of Justice and sixteen attorneys general sued Apple on Thursday over concerns that the tech giant is preventing competitors from being able to offer products that might compete with Apple's on its iPhone.
It's the latest swing by regulators in America and the EU to curb what they allege as Apple's anti-competitive tactics.
The lawsuit is the Justice Department's third attempt to sue Apple over allegations of anti-competitive behavior in the last 14 years, according to Bloomberg. Still, it seems to be the first time the DOJ is accusing the company of breaking the law in upholding its position as a dominant market player.
"Each step in Apple's course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly," the lawsuit said, according to reports.
Apple is not just facing regulatory pressure in the US. In early March, the European Commission hit Apple with a nearly $2 billion fine for disallowing apps like Spotify to provide cheaper payment options outside the app store. In response, the company claimed in a public statement that regulators don't have any "credible evidence of consumer harm."
That comes as the EU moves to investigate Apple for its potential violation of the Digital Markets Act, which aims to allow fair competition in Europe's digital market.
Companies, too, are pushing back against Apple's payment scheme. On Wednesday, Meta, Microsoft, X, and Match Group joined Epic Games in the video game maker's efforts to get Apple to open its App Store to external payment options, Bloomberg reported.