Facebook planning to sue Apple over App Store rules – Reports

Facebook is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit upon Apple for supposedly violating its power through new App Store rules.

Apple and Facebook have remained at loggerheads ever since Apple conducted all its developers to attach privacy labels to its apps on the App Store.

Facebook had claimed that the new move approaches the presence of small businesses. Facebook’s encounter with Apple might get an exceptional turn if reports are to be believed.

As per The Information, the suit that Facebook intends to file states that Apple forces other apps to follow the rules that its apps are not obliged to follow. The report cites unnamed sources.

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Apple had initial entered into a battle with Epic Games over App Store rules. As a result of which, Fortnite was excluded from the App Store. The report states that Facebook could require changes in the App Store rules just the way Epic did in its lawsuit against Apple.

Although Facebook has not announced its intention of filing a lawsuit, it has sued Apple for behaving in an anti-competitive way.

“As we have stated repeatedly, we think Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses,” a Facebook spokesperson was cited as saying.

During the fourth quarter’s earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg called Apple one of its “biggest competitors.” “Apple has all reason to use their powerful platform position to conflict with how our apps and other apps work, which they usually do to preference their own. This affects the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including with their upcoming iOS 14 changes, so many little businesses will no longer be able to reach their consumers with targeted ads,” he replied.

Also Read: Apple removes 39,000 game apps on its China store

Zuckerberg claimed that WhatsApp is under threat from Apple iMessage. Zuckerberg intimated that Apple’s latest move is to maintain its services like iMessage.

“iMessage is a key linchpin of their ecosystem,” he stated. “It occurs pre-installed on every iPhone and they favor it with private APIs and permissions, which is why iMessage is the most used messaging service in the U.S. Apple has all reason to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work, which they frequently do to preference their own. This affects the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including with the expected iOS 14 changes,” Zuckerberg was said as speaking during his calls.

Source: India Today (Article)