The mask is off. Apple and Google aren’t just phone makers or software providers: they are unelected gatekeepers of the digital economy. Their two-company stranglehold on the app ecosystem through iOS and Android–used by roughly 315 million Americans–is crushing innovation, fleecing developers and consumers, and kneecapping American tech leadership.
Momentum is building against these twin monopolies in America and abroad. Just look at the last few weeks to see that the tide is turning. Today, Rep. Kat Cammack introduced the App Store Fairness Act, a bill that would help restore fairness and competition to the mobile ecosystem. Last week, a California judge found Apple in contempt of court and slammed company executives for willfully violating an order to change its anticompetitive app store practices–and then lying about it. The week before that, the EU concluded a year-long investigation and found that Apple was harming consumers and developers with its policies and fined it for anticompetitive behavior. (The EU issued a similar preliminary finding against Google in March for its policies in the Google Play marketplace.)
Apple has cynically tried to cast itself as a victim of European retaliation to President Trump’s tough stance on trade. President Trump is right to protect American companies from unfair barriers to trade, but don’t be fooled: this is about competition and greed, not global trade. Europe is in good company with the U.S. and other countries like Japan, South Korea, and Australia in wanting to end anticompetitive behavior.
Because what Apple and Google have built through their app stores isn’t a functioning market—it’s a lucrative racket.
If you’re a developer and you want your app on iPhones or Android devices, you pay Apple and Google their toll—up to 30% of your revenue. Every download, every purchase, every subscription. And if you’re competing with one of their own apps? Good luck. You’re playing their game with a blindfold on, while they control the rulebook, the scoreboard, and the refs. If you want to launch a competing store that offers better deals and better service? Forget about it. Apple says you’re not allowed to compete with them. They want the iPhone to be a one-store town.
Imagine if a credit card company charged your small business 30% of the sale price every time someone taps or swipes their card at your store, and there was no alternative. People would march in the streets! But the opaque app store practices hide the inflated price from consumers.
Just ask David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Basecamp, who publicly battled Apple over their fee shakedown. Ask Patreon, forced to give Apple a cut not just of subscriptions but of donations. Yes—Apple takes a cut when fans donate money to their favorite creators. That’s not innovation. That’s extortion.
In America, we’re taught that if you work hard and build something great, you can succeed. But if you want to succeed with a digital-first mobile enterprise, that promise is a lie. Apple is choosing winners and losers before a product ever reaches the market.
This isn’t a left-right issue. It’s about freedom, fairness, and the future of our economy. And the Trump administration is paying attention.
As Vice President J.D. Vance put it in a speech earlier this year, “Our laws will keep Big Tech, little tech and all other developers on a level playing field.” That’s exactly the kind of leadership we need. The Trump-appointed FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has also made the stakes clear: “As the Administration works to pare back Big Government, we don’t want to replace [it] with giant monopolies that get to do the same thing.”
In other words, if we’re going to shrink government power in Washington, we certainly shouldn’t shift it to Silicon Valley.
The U.S. court rulings and international actions are a step in the right direction, and they are already having a positive impact. But there’s a clear and longer-lasting solution: Congress must break up the cartel to level the playing field to create a more competitive marketplace.
Legislation like the App Store Fairness Act prevents Apple and Google from using their power to stifle competition and extract excessive fees, while ensuring that developers can innovate and reach consumers without being held hostage by these tech giants. We shouldn’t cede leadership on protecting American consumers and entrepreneurs to other countries–the time for Congress to act is now.
Mike Davis is the founder and president of the Internet Accountability Project and an advisor to the Coalition for App Fairness.
