In line with the goal to regulate the global “Big Tech” firms, American lawmakers have drafted a fresh congressional bill to address the way digital app stores are run in the cyberspace.
Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Open App Markets Act, which is a bill designed to “promote competition and reduce gatekeeper power in the app economy, increase choice, improve quality, and reduce costs for consumers.”
Agency report indicates in the radar are global technology giants Apple and Google, the two biggest firms that the trio of legislators feel have gatekeeper control over the app market.
According to the American lawmakers, the control these companies have allows them to call all the shots and keep other app resellers picking up what scraps they can.
Apple and Google in all have 5.7 million apps that produced $110.9 billion in sales in 2020, report said. Sen. Blackburn stated: “Big Tech giants are forcing their own app stores on users at the expense of innovative start-ups.
“Apple and Google want to prevent developers and consumers from using third-party app stores that would threaten their bottom line.”
The lawmaker further said: “Their anti-competitive conduct is a direct affront to a free and fair marketplace. Senators Blumenthal, Klobuchar and I are committed to ensuring US consumers and small businesses are not punished by Big Tech dominance.”
Blumenthal said the legislation is intended to “tear down coercive anticompetitive walls in the app economy, giving consumers more choices and smaller startup tech companies a fighting chance.”
The bill, Blackburn added, will “give mobile users more control over their own devices.”
Meanwhile, it is noted that bearing in mind this legislation has only been introduced, it will take a while as it still has to pass in the US Senate and the House of Representatives before finally getting President Joe Biden’s signature.
Given their historic sales trends, Google and Apple can sell a lot of apps before the act becomes law, report noted.
In a similar vein, the companies have other app store issues to deal with, as the European Union (EU) has been relentless in punishing Apple over issues with its App Store.
In March 2021, the EU launched an investigation over unfair App Store dominance, according to report. It followed that up with accusations in April that the company was breaking antitrust rules with its App Store policies.
Google also has not had it any easier in the US. The company was hit with an antitrust lawsuit filed by 37 states of the US that claimed the Google Play Store is an illegal monopoly.