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U.S. House Committee Asks Apple to Send Info About App Store Policies and More as Part of Antitrust Investigation

As part of a bipartisan investigation of competition in digital markets, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee today sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook (https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/Apple%20RFI%20-%20Signed.pdf) requesting that the company provide any documents and executive communications related to its various policies for the App Store (https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/app-store/), product repairs, and more.





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The investigation seeks any internal documents or communication involving Apple executives, such as emails, for the following topics:<ul><li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's decision to remove from the <!---->App Store<!----> or to impose any restrictions on certain parental control apps (https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/04/apple-lets-parental-apps-use-mdm-strict-privacy/), including Freedom, Kidslox, Mobicip, OurPact, and Qustodio


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's <!---->App Store<!----> algorithm for determining rankings in search results (https://www.macrumors.com/2019/09/09/apple-adjusts-app-store-search-algorithm/)


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's policy related to the <!---->App Store<!---->'s in-app purchase mechanism and its revenue split


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's policy regarding whether apps are permitted to include in-app links to non-Apple payment systems


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's policy regarding whether users can set non-Apple apps as default, such as web browsers and music, maps, and email apps


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's policy regarding whether to allow any third-party app store beyond the <!---->App Store<!----> on the iPhone


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's decision to "sherlock" any functionality from third-party apps, including any discussions about Clue, Duet Display, and SwiftKey


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's policy regarding whether third-party web browsers must use a specific rendering engine, such as WebKit


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's restrictions on third-party repairs


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's decision to offer discounted iPhone battery replacements (https://www.macrumors.com/2018/11/30/apple-battery-replacement-program-ending/) throughout 2018, or the actual or projected effects of this decision, including any effect on iPhone sales


<li style="padding-bottom: 8px;">Apple's decision to introduce the Independent Repair Provider Program (https://www.macrumors.com/2019/08/29/apple-independent-repair-program/)


<li>Apple's agreement to sell products on Amazon and corresponding move to limit unauthorized resellers on Amazon (https://www.macrumors.com/2019/08/02/ftc-lawyers-inquire-about-apple-amazon-deal/)</ul>The Committee has requested that Apple respond no later than October 14, 2019 and also sent similar letters to Facebook, Amazon, and Google.





<small>Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47) forum.  All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.</small>

<div class="linkback">Tags: App Store (https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/app-store/), antitrust (https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/antitrust/)</div>
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Source: U.S. House Committee Asks Apple to Send Info About App Store Policies and More as Part of Antitrust Investigation (https://www.macrumors.com/2019/09/13/us-house-judiciary-committee-apple-antitrust/)