HuffPost: Arizona Bill Offers Major Challenge To Big Tech’s Monopoly Power
Arizona has emerged as a battleground between corporate and antitrust forces, with the state Legislature considering a measure that would loosen Apple and Google’s grip on app sales.
The fight is creating strange bedfellows, with big tech companies, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and some Democrats lining up against the Republican-sponsored bill.
House Bill 2005 would allow Arizona-based developers to use their own in-app payment systems, effectively circumventing Apple’s App Store rules that give the tech giant a 15% to 30% cut of every transaction made there.
Apple isn’t alone in the practice. Most major platforms also take a cut of some sort. App stores run by Google, Microsoft and Samsung all take a 30% commission, with some falling to 15% in certain instances.
“Democratic lawmakers are afraid of challenging Apple and Google, and don’t understand the problem of monopoly power,” said Matt Stoller, the director of research at the Washington-based American Economic Liberties Project.
“A lot of them seem to think that this is just some business dispute, when in fact it is a matter of social justice and inequality, just within the commercial realm,” he said.