The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) released a statement Thursday cheering the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The team includes a number of key app makers, including Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Match Group, Proton and more.
“With today’s announcement, the Department of Justice is taking a strong stand against Apple’s stranglehold on the mobile app ecosystem, which stifles competition and hurts American consumers and developers,” said Rick VanMeter, CAF’s executive director. “The Justice Department’s complaint describes Apple’s long history of illegal behavior — abusing App Store guidelines and developer agreements to raise prices, extract excessive fees, degrade user experiences, and eliminate competition. The DOJ joins regulators around the world who have recognized the many harms of Apple’s abusive behavior and are working to address it.”
Some of CAF’s members, such as Epic and Spotify, have been embroiled in high-profile legal proceedings over Apple’s anti-competitive practices.
For years, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been vocal about his displeasure at Apple’s 30% cut to in-app payments, which he believes is monopolistic and predatory. In 2020, Epic made it possible for Fortnite players pay Epic directly, instead of cutting Apple. Apple then removed Epic from the App Store, which sparked a series of legal proceedings. While Epic has seen some wins — now, developers are allowed to steer users to alternative payment methods — Apple hasn’t proven to be a monopoly on any of these lawsuits.
As the Digital Marketing Act (DMA) came into effect in the European Union, Spotify has become more competitive against Apple. The DMA is supposed to ease competition in the EU, but Spotify has called Apple’s plans to comply with the DMA – which add additional developer fees – “a complete and utter farce”.
In a thread on X, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek he said: “I was skeptical of Apple’s intentions to comply after years of watching them get away with such extreme abuse in all the ways they flout regulations around the world. Who wouldn’t be? But the law is the law, right? Not if you’re Apple…”
But Apple sees CAF as the bad guy. In a briefing with reporters about the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit, Apple presented a slide that positioned CAF as part of a web of companies trying to take down Apple for their own profit.
In a statement, Apple said: “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it will 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 by 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.”
