U.S. DOJ takes a big bite at Apple in antitrust lawsuit

The United States Department of Justice has just taken a big bite at Apple. The federal government, along with 16 other states, are suing Apple after years of investigation, finding that Apple is keeping a monopoly with its iPhone, and practices with iOS.

There’s a lot to this lawsuit, but it comes down to more than a few things that have boiled up over the years. In this case, the government finds that Apple “exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others.”

This naturally points back to Apple’s practices of blocking cloud-streaming apps, suppressing messages between iPhone and Android, limiting functions of third-party smartwatches with iPhones, and blocking third-party app marketplaces. Apple has responded. The company issues the following statement.

“At Apple, we innovate every day to make technology people love— designing products that work seamlessly together, protect people’s privacy and security, and create a magical experience for our users. This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple— where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering the government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology. We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”

Apple isn’t the only company the U.S. government has gone after. Over the years, Google, Amazon, and Meta faced similar antitrust lawsuits, too. If the suit goes through the courts and Apple loses, it might be forced to make changes to its products, similar to what has happened in Europe with the DMA.