The Biden administration sued Apple on Thursday, alleging the tech giant created a monopoly in the smartphone market by blocking competitors from accessing hardware and software features of the iPhone.
The lawsuit, filed by the Department of Justice in federal court in New Jersey, is the latest in a series of efforts by the Biden administration to rein in what it argues is unlawful anticompetitive behavior by some of the nation’s largest tech companies.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced during a midday press conference Thursday a new anti-trust lawsuit from the Department of Justice against tech mega-giant Apple. The DOJ filing alleges that the company violated antitrust laws to maintain its monopoly with smartphones including deliberately slowing or limiting functionality on third-party features like outside applications or messaging with users on other devices including Androids, creating a “perceived” inferiority of any service outside the Apple ecosystem:
Garland added, ‘We all share concerns. There are more than a million people in Rafah, many of whom were displaced from other parts of Gaza. A major ground operation would mean more civilian deaths and it would worsen the humanitarian crisis.’
Sixteen state and district attorneys general joined the DOJ in bringing the case.
