Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday introduced legislation intended to promote competition among app stores.<\/p>\n
The bipartisan Open App Markets Act takes aim at Google’s and Apple\u2019s dominant app stores, which the lawmakers say use their gatekeeping power to stifle potential rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, Apple and Google have squashed competitors and kept consumers in the dark\u2014pocketing hefty windfalls while acting as supposedly benevolent gatekeepers of this multi-billion dollar market,\u201d Blumenthal said in a statement. \u201cThis bipartisan bill will help break these tech giants\u2019 ironclad grip, open the app economy to new competitors, and give mobile users more control over their own devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee held a hearing on app stores earlier this year that featured companies criticizing the two big markets for imposing excessive commission fees on payments and threatening up-and-coming developers.<\/p>\n
The Open App Markets bill would try to remedy those concerns by blocking Apple and Google from requiring developers to use their payment systems or taking punitive action against developers that sell their services at lower prices elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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