https://arab.news/m3dzv
Two operating systems, Apple iOS and Google Android, dominate the mobile app ecosystem and, over the last decade, a worldwide consensus has emerged on two issues. First, these platforms have amassed significant, persistent market power with which to extract monopoly rents from consumers and business users, and they frequently act anticompetitively and abusively to protect it. Second, traditional enforcement under existing abuse-of-dominance and monopolization statutes has been too slow and too uncertain to deter these megafirms, which command resources and power exceeding those of many countries and governments.
While traditional enforcement of existing competition laws has produced some significant cases in the US, Europe, Brazil and elsewhere, there have also been new legislative efforts. Laws have been passed, or are being considered, in various jurisdictions around the world, each with the goal of reining in the power and abuses of Big Tech.
Even in the US, there was bipartisan support for the Open App Markets Act in 2022. That year, the bill made significant progress in Congress, passing the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 20-2 favorable vote. But, owing to the Senate leadership’s priorities, it was never given a floor vote and now the need for such legislation is even more apparent. American consumers and businesses continue to suffer from the exploitative conduct of the digital gatekeepers, which extract excessive rents and fees, crush competing businesses and business models and wield undue influence (sometimes through outright denial of access) over new apps and technologies.
