The US Department of Justice silently investigates antitrust on Apple

According to a Reuters source, the US Department of Justice has contacted several app developers to serve its investigation of Apple, one of the four U.S. tech giants over allegations of involvement. anti-competitive behavior.

Mobicip’s app manager Suren Ramasubbu told Reuters US investigators interviewed him last November about the company’s connections with Apple. The company’s Mobicip app currently has about 1 million users globally, allowing parents to control what children see on the iPhone (parental control feature).

However, Ramasubbu said that the Mobicip app was temporarily removed from the App Store last year after failing to meet the requirements imposed by Apple.

Apple began introducing the Screen Time app in June 2018, including a feature that allows parents to control their children’s usage time, similar to Mobicip. Shortly thereafter, in early 2019, Apple contacted Mobicip and warned that its app was violating iPhone manufacturer’s regulations, which had previously been approved for technical factors. .

According to Ramasubba, about 6 months later, the application was removed from the App Store, at the time it was updated to comply with Apple’s regulations. It was not until October 2019 that it was restored, but he estimates that the company’s business operations have shrunk to half.

Apple’s new Screen Time application.

Reuters also interviewed six directors of other application development companies, also have applications related to similar parental control features. They said they all had a smooth relationship with Apple until mid-2018, when Apple launched its own Screen Time app.

Apple has said it is concerned about apps with parental controls that might use technology to allow app developers to access sensitive data, and Apple will refuse to use apps. that technology if they don’t commit not to share apps about kids.

However, many developers also believe that this will allow Apple to push applications that compete with their own products out, to increase profits at a time when their device sales are leveling off and Looking for new sources of revenue.

While declining to comment on the Reuters report, Apple pointed out its statement posted on the website that its app store is designed to maintain apps “at a high standard of privacy, level of security and content. ”

References Reuters