Olivia Cavallaro Tech 08.27.2022 00:Aug AM EDT

US Justice Department Likely to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple Over App Store, AirTags

Lawyers at the DOJ are preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple by the end of the year.

Apple may be closing 2022 with a lawsuit from the US Justice Department, as a person with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that lawyers are in the early stages of developing an antitrust complaint against the Big Tech giant. Several groups of prosecutors within the DOJ are now reportedly putting together a case for a potential lawsuit, which the department's antitrust division is looking to file by the end of the year.

According to POLITICO, the informants who spoke under the condition of anonymity said that the US Justice Department has not come to a decision on whether to file a lawsuit against Apple, which has grown to become the world's most valuable public company. They said that it would still be possible that no lawsuit would be filed.

Apple is not the only Big Tech giant being targeted by the US Justice Department, as the DOJ and several states also filed antitrust lawsuits against Google and Facebook. If the DOJ decides to push through with this antitrust lawsuit against Apple, it would be the first one launched under the Biden administration.

Apple's Tumultuous History with the US Justice Department

This is not the first time Apple got legally involved with the US Justice Department. The DOJ had in fact been investigating Apple since 2019 as part of a larger government probe on Big Tech companies, Engadget reported. The US Justice Department has mostly focused on Apple's strict App Store rules and payment system for developers, while a newer lawsuit may center on Tile's public complaints over Apple's AirTags.

Tile is another tracking device system and its makers allege that Apple had disadvantaged its app on iOS devices by limiting its Find My network on purpose. Unlike Tile that uses Bluetooth, Apple's AirTags use ultra-wideband technology and Apple's Find My network to search for devices, a capability that has been proven to be better than Tile's.

In 2021, Apple finally opened its Find My network to third-party devices for location tracking. However, along with it came terms and restrictions that forced Tile and other companies to replace their software ecosystem's with Apple's, which Tile refused.

US Justice Department Continues to Target Big Tech

News of an Apple antitrust lawsuit from the DOJ comes after several federal cases were launched against other Big Tech companies. According to The Verge, the Federal Trade Commission launched a lawsuit to prevent Meta from acquiring the popular VR game studio Within in July. However, the FTC will take a court ruling to establish if it can block the merger.

Back in 2020, the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google for allegedly monopolizing the search and display ad businesses. In response, Google offered to split its ad-auction business into a separate company as settlement, but it remains unclear what this antitrust lawsuit resulted in.

In India, Apple also faces an antitrust lawsuit from Match Group, which owns Tinder and accused the iPhone maker of "monopolistic conduct" that required developers to pay high commissions for in-app purchases, Reuters reported.