Posts Tagged: antitrust
The DOJ is reportedly prepared to file a broad antitrust lawsuit against Apple
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) could file “a sweeping antitrust case” against Apple as soon as the first half of this year, according to The New York Times. The report says the agency is in “the late stages” of its investigation, focusing on the company’s control over hardware and software services and how its “walled garden” approach has allegedly made it harder for rivals to compete and customers to switch to competing products.
The New York Times report says the investigation has expanded beyond what was previously reported, according to people with knowledge of the meetings. Among other areas, its scope has allegedly covered how the Apple Watch is more tightly integrated with iPhone services than rival wearables and how it locks competing platforms out of iMessage.
Executives from Beeper, which got into a public spat with Apple late last year over the iPhone maker’s blocking of the app’s iMessage integration on Android, reportedly talked with investigators. In addition, Tile, which has made Bluetooth trackers since long before the AirTag existed, allegedly sat down with the DOJ, too. The agency is said to have “had conversations with” representatives from banking and payment apps about Apple’s practice of blocking rivals from using tap-to-pay on the iPhone.
Meta also reportedly talked with investigators. The social company allegedly “encouraged” the DOJ to look into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy tool in its meetings. ATT, launched in 2021, lets users hinder advertisers’ data collection, a feature Meta said in 2022 could cost it $ 10 billion that year. The NYT claims investigators have also looked into Apple’s cut of digital purchases made on the iPhone, a point Spotify, Epic Games and dating corporation Match Group have been vocal about in recent years.
The federal government currently has its hands full with Big Tech antitrust cases. The DOJ is pursuing two antitrust cases against Google (one for search and another for advertising), while the FTC has sued Meta and Amazon.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-doj-is-reportedly-prepared-to-file-a-broad-antitrust-lawsuit-against-apple-213030784.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Google loses landmark antitrust lawsuit against Epic Games
Google has lost a landmark case against Epic Games after a jury decided on Monday that the web giant operates an illegal monopoly via its Android app store.
Digital Trends
Google found to have violated order to save chat evidence in Epic antitrust case
A federal judge has ruled that Google violated a court order requiring it to preserve employee chat messages relevant to Epic's antitrust case, according to Bloomberg and CNBC. San Francisco US District Judge James Donato said the tech giant "adopted a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for keeping messages, at the expense of its preservation duties," and must be sanctioned for its actions. Donato has yet to decide on what sanctions and penalties Google should face, but he ordered the company to cover Epic's attorney's fees related to this particular issue.
Donato said in his decision that Google gave almost 360 employees the complete freedom to decide whether or not to preserve chat histories. In a separate filing by the Department of Justice over the same complaint, the agency explained that the tech giant's internal chatroom, which is used to discuss "substantive and sensitive business," is set to delete chat messages within 24 hours by default. The agency expected Google to change its chat history setting in 2019 when it "reasonably anticipated [the] litigation," but it still allegedly left the decision to individual employees.
Epic Games, to support its case, recently submitted exhibits to show how Google employees tend to switch off chat history. In one example from 2021, Google CEO Sundar Pichai allegedly wrote: "…also can we change the setting of this group to history off." He attempted to delete that message a few seconds later, according to the filing. Google employees also reportedly switch off chat histories when discussing topics, such as revenue sharing and mobile app distribution agreements, as well as a project that involves changing commission rates for Google Play.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said the company has worked with Epic and investigators over the years and has handed over millions of documents: "Our teams have conscientiously worked, for years, to respond to Epic and the state AGs’ discovery requests and we have produced over three million documents, including thousands of chats. We'll continue to show the court how choice, security, and openness are built into Android and Google Play," they said.
The judge will hold further proceedings to finalize the sanctions Google must face. Donato said he'd like to see the evidence available "at the end of fact discovery," so that Epic would be better positioned to "tell the Court what might have been lost in the Chat communications."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-found-to-have-violated-order-to-save-chat-evidence-in-epic-antitrust-case-052711779.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Google slapped with record-setting antitrust fine in the EU
Google was handed a record fine in 2019 for abusing it market position. Google appealed, but the court says it needs to pay a fine of over 4 billion Euros.
Android | Digital Trends
Amazon VP tries to convince sellers to oppose antitrust bill
Amazon made an appeal to its third-party sellers to oppose a Senate antitrust reform bill aimed at helping their businesses. In a post on Amazon’s internal forum for third-party merchants, the company’s vice president of worldwide selling partner services Dharmesh Mehta urged sellers to oppose The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S.2992), and asked them to contact their senators.
"As we have noted in previous communications to you throughout the past year, Congress is considering legislation, including S. 2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, that could jeopardize Amazon’s ability to operate a marketplace service and, as a result, your business’s ability to sell in our store," wrote Mehta.
Just under 500 sellers have responded to Mehta’s post since Thursday, many of them unconvinced by Amazon’s claim that the Senate bill will harm their businesses. “The bill jeopardizes the way Amazon wants to operate. It would not jeopardize marketplaces. Amazon, get your own house in order before asking us as sellers to defend you,” wrote one seller.
“I am personally sick of the condescending posts by Amazon management directed at us. We are not morons and know how to read and think for ourselves,” wrote another seller.
Mehta’s attempt to recruit Amazon’s third-party sellers into unpaid lobbyists follows a wider push by the company against The American Innovation and Choice Online Act. Last week, a public-facing post by Amazon’s VP of Public Policy Brian Huseman warned of potentially degraded Prime membership benefits for customers if the bill passes into law; similar to Mehta, Huseman also suggested anti-trust action might "make it difficult to justify the risk of Amazon offering a marketplace in which selling partners can participate."
The Senate bill contains provisions intended to prevent tech giants like Amazon and Google from giving their own services preferential treatment, thus putting other businesses at a disadvantage. Amazon over the years has been accused of using a number of tactics to put third-party merchants at a disadvantage, including using sales data on third-party products to develop its own competing products and prioritizing products that use Prime shipping in search results.
Trade groups funded by Big Tech have spent millions in ads that frame the bill as an “innovation killer” and harmful to small businesses, reported the Washington Post. The ads run primarily in states represented by vulnerable Senate Democrats, in an effort to amp up pressure from their own constituents. The Senate is expected to vote on the S.2992 sometime this summer. The House Judiciary Committee passed a similar bill last year, but it has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote.
The FTC may sue Facebook over antitrust violations by late November
The FTC may have narrowed down the time frame for an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. Politico sources claim the Commission is “likely” to sue Facebook before November is over. It might not be the quick, public legal battle some would hope for, th…
Engadget
Telegram is the latest company to file an EU antitrust complaint against Apple
If big tech thought that its antitrust reckoning would end with yesterday’s hearings, it’ll have its optimism sorely dented by what’s likely to follow. A number of smaller players are lobbing grenades over the fence in the hope of forcing regulators…
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WSJ: Google will ‘likely’ face antitrust lawsuits later this year
For nearly a year there have been reports about the Justice Department investigating Google for antitrust violations when it comes to search and advertising. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports it’s “likely” that the DoJ and state attorneys general…
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US Justice Department to reportedly open Facebook antitrust investigation
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WSJ: Justice Department ‘preparing’ Google antitrust investigation
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Britain’s largest network operator defends Google in EU Android antitrust case
BT, a telecommunications provider in the U.K., has sent a letter to the European Commission announcing its support for Google in an ongoing antitrust case involving Android, the world’s largest mobile operating system.
The post Britain’s largest network operator defends Google in EU Android antitrust case appeared first on Digital Trends.
European Commission’s antitrust chief is ‘looking closely’ at Google’s Android
Google is still in hot water, thanks to the European Commission. The antitrust chief believes Android stifles competition due to the pre-loaded Google apps, and could escalate the investigation as early as this week.
The post European Commission’s antitrust chief is ‘looking closely’ at Google’s Android appeared first on Digital Trends.
Disconnect.Me dispute with Google over Play Store leads to antitrust complaint in Europe
As Google continues to deal with the European Commission over a variety of claims that the company has become too large and is creating an anticompetitive environment, a new complaint has been lodged by Disconnect Inc., developers of an ad-blocking and privacy app. The crux of the complaint is Google’s decision to ban the Disconnect Mobile app from the Google Play Store. Disconnect is demanding their app be included in the Play Store along with unspecified damages.
Disconnect provides a service to protect “users from invisible tracking and malvertising, malware served through advertisements” according to a statement issued by the company. Disconnect makes their service available through apps for both Android and iOS systems as well as extensions that can be deployed on desktop computers. Disconnect has tried twice in the past year to get the Android version of the app listed in Google Play, only to see Google ban the app. The second time it happened, Google threatened to remove the company’s developer account, which would have impacted other apps produced by the company.
Google has responded to the complaint stating it is baseless. According to their statement,
“Our Google Play policies (specifically clause 4.4) have long prohibited apps that interfere with other apps (such as by altering their functionality, or removing their way of making money). We apply this policy uniformly – and Android developers strongly support it. All apps must comply with these policies and there’s over 200 privacy apps available in Google Play that do.”
Disconnect, founded by former Google execs, currently offers the app through their own site so users can sideload the app. They have also worked on deals to get the app pre-installed on devices, like the Blackphone provided through Deutsche Telekom. However, the company clearly believes they are losing out on potential revenue due to the lack of exposure from not being listed in the Google Play Store. In a statement, CEO Casey Oppenheim says,
“We want what the lawyers call ‘equal treatment.’ We want Android users to be able to get our products quickly and easily through the Play Store and we want to be fully supported by Google, just like other apps in the Store.”
Disconnect has not yet released the actual complaint with all of the details regarding the claimed impact from not being listed in the Play Store. They have also not launched any complaints outside of the European Union.
source: TechCrunch
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