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Big tech companies tend to make a lot of enemies — but there are none more powerful than the US government. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta are regularly called in front of Congress to fend off monopoly accusations — and lawmakers bring up bills to rein in the companies just as often. The Federal Trade Commission has taken a particularly central role, leading a lawsuit to sever Facebook and Instagram while blocking new acquisitions for Oculus and the company’s virtual reality wing. Like it or not, these regulatory fights will play a huge role in deciding the future of tech — and neither side is playing nice.

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Visa and Mastercard agree to put a limit on credit card swipe fees.

The proposed settlement, which stems from a years-long legal battle, will require Visa and Mastercard to lower swipe fees for merchants by 0.04 percentage points for three years, while capping these rates into 2030.

Even though it may seem like the deal will lower fees for customers, that may not be the case for everyone. The settlement will allow retailers to charge more when customers use premium cards that offer cashback rewards and other perks, as these come with higher swipe fees.


US v. Apple: everything you need to know

It’s all about Apple’s vise grip over the smartphone market and the iPhone’s locked-down ecosystem.

Meet Jonathan Kanter, the man heading the antitrust charge against Apple.

This New York Times article provides an overview of Kanter’s career in criticizing competition, from representing Microsoft’s offensive against Google during the Obama administration to leading the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

“In some ways, he’s still looking for that more prominent trophy to go on the mantelpiece,” said former FTC chair William Kovacic. “You win one of these monopolization cases, you can take the rest of the decade off.”


Why is the Department of Justice suing Apple?

For a fast and clear explanation, deputy editor Alex Cranz spells out the antitrust lawsuit filed today in just under five minutes.


The lock-in problem at the heart of the Apple monopoly lawsuit

Apple’s approach to smartwatches, green bubbles, and digital wallets makes up a huge part of the DOJ’s antitrust case.

How Apple’s war on super apps became the center of its antitrust fight

The Department of Justice claims Apple stifled the development of super apps because they would disrupt its “monopoly power.”

UNITED STATES SUES APPLE

The Department of Justice claims Apple maintains an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market by locking in customers and making experiences worse for rival products.

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Apple’s response to the DOJ’s iPhone antitrust lawsuit.

The statement from Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz in response to the antitrust lawsuit announced this morning:

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 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.


Press conference wraps with Kanter saying Apple’s choices have made its system less private.

Kanter said the lawsuit explains “the illegal and exclusionary conduct that Apple has engaged in is not necessary to protect security and privacy.” To the contrary, “in many instances, Apple’s conduct has made its ecosystem less private and less secure.”


Garland addresses massive resource imbalance between DOJ and Apple.

“When you have an institution with a lot of resources, that in our view is harming the American economy and the American people, it’s important for us to allocate our resources to protect the American people,” Garland said. “And that is certainly the case where individual Americans have no ability to protect themselves.”


Apple has felt threatened by easy ways to switch between iPhone and Android, says Kanter.

“Apple has long relied on contractual restrictions rather than competition on the merits to fortify its monopoly power,” Kanter said. He pointed to emails between an Apple executive and then-CEO Steve Jobs in 2010, lamenting a Kindle ad where a user switches seamlessly between the Kindle app on an iPhone and an Android.


Apple benefited from DOJ’s Microsoft case.

Apple was a “significant beneficiary” of the DOJ’s suit against Microsoft more than 20 years ago, said Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division. “The remedy paved the way for Apple to launch iTunes, iPod and eventually the iPhone.”

He described the new suit as a way “to protect competition and innovation for the next generation of technology.”


The Apple suit echos DOJ’s earlier Microsoft challenge, DOJ says.

The new complaint “alleges that Apple has engaged in many of the same tactics that Microsoft used,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said, referencing the DOJ’s landmark antitrust case at the turn of the century.


Apple has maintained “a chokehold on competition,” deputy AG says.

Apple has “smothered an entire industry” by shifting from “revolutionizing the smartphone market to stalling its advancement,” according to Lisa Monaco.


Apple doesn’t actually do everything for security, AG alleges.

Garland described how Apple “inserts itself into the process” of transactions through its digital wallets, when consumers may “prefer to share that information solely with their bank.”

“That is just one way in which Apple is willing to make the iPhone less secure and less private, in order to maintain its monopoly power,” Garland said.


Garland takes on green texts.

The AG says it’s not just that the green texts between Android and iPhone devices are annoying, there’s also “limited functionality.”

“Videos are pixelated and grainy, and users cannot edit messages or see typing indicators,” Garland said.


US Attorney General Merrick Garland kicks off DOJ press conference on Apple suit.

“Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law,” Garland said.

He also referenced the so-called Apple tax that the company charges for in-app purchases.


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Watch the DOJ announce it’s suing Apple for allegedly operating an illegal monopoly.

Watch the press conference below as US Attorney General Merrick Garland lays out the case against Apple, and read more details right here.


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“Buy your mom an iPhone.”

Debates over green bubbles, iMessage, and RCS came to a head in this moment from the 2022 Code Conference when LiQuan Hunt asked Tim Cook about messaging across platforms. Leading to today, when Hunt’s question and Cook’s response came up on page 39 of the DOJ’s antitrust complaint against Apple.

In 2022, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was asked whether Apple would fix iPhone-to-Android messaging. ‘It’s tough,’ the questioner implored Mr. Cook, ‘not to make it personal but I can’t send my mom certain videos.’ Mr. Cook’s response? ‘Buy your mom an iPhone.’

Correction: it’s on page 39, right 92.


Today’s Decoder explains everything you need to know about the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

The Justice Department just announced a long-awaited, massive antitrust suit against Apple. Those antitrust suits — big but slow-moving — are the primary way the US is challenging big tech.

But across the Atlantic, the European Union has been hard at work enforcing what’s known as the Digital Markets Act, a sweeping regulation that went into effect earlier this month that’s aimed at leveling the playing field between big tech and smaller competitors. Apple, in particular, has been engaging in what we can only describe as “malicious compliance.”

Verge reporter Jon Porter, who’s been covering EU regulation for years, joined me on Decoder to break down which companies qualify as “gatekeepers,” what new rules they have to follow, and what this means for the future.


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Amazon and other retailers face FCC probe over signal jammers.

The investigation follows a report by NBC News on the sale of radio frequency jammers which are illegal in the US due to the risk they pose to public and emergency communication services.

NBC’s report found nine China-based Amazon sellers (and three on eBay) offering “jammer” devices that can be used to keep drones away, disable security cameras, and block Wi-Fi networks.


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The US Justice Department’s Apple antitrust lawsuit may be imminent.

The New York Times reported in January that the DOJ was nearing the end of an investigation into Apple’s locked-down ecosystem. Now, Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, says the agency is preparing for the next step:

The Justice Department is poised to sue Apple Inc. as soon as Thursday, accusing the world’s second most valuable tech company of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features of its iPhone.


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French regulator fines Google $270M for using news content to train its AI.

The Competition Authority accused Google of violating its earlier commitments to the regulator by failing to let news publishers opt out of being used to train its Bard AI model (now Gemini). In a blog post translated from French, Google said it “compromised because it is time to turn the page.”

In the US, AI companies like OpenAI have faced lawsuits from authors and news publishers including The New York Times for allegedly using copyrighted works to train their models.


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The EU’s antitrust chief is paying close attention to Apple’s DMA compliance.

“There are things that we take a keen interest in, for instance, if the new Apple fee structure will de facto not make it in any way attractive to use the benefits of the DMA,” Margrethe Vestager tells Reuters. “That kind of thing is what we will be investigating.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vestager says she’s received “Quite a lot” of comments about how the DMA’s gatekeepers are complying with the EU’s new antitrust rules.