At a recent hearing before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, app developers stated that they fear tech giants Apple and Google due to their reliance on the Masters of the Universe to reach smartphone users through their respective app stores.
CNBC reports that some app developers who rely on app distribution from tech giants Apple and Google recently testified that they are scared of how much power the tech giants have over their businesses.
Match Group Chief Legal Officer Jared Sine told Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust: “We’re all afraid.”
The hearing included representatives from Apple and Google and several of their critics including Match Group which owns the dating app Tinder; Tile which makes small trackers that can be used to find lost objects, and the music streaming service Spotify.
The hearing comes as lawmakers consider updates to antitrust laws that could better account for the influence that major tech firms have over many digital markets.
Multiple executives have accused Apple and Google of threatening their businesses. Match Group Chief Legal Officer Jared Sine stated on Tuesday night after his testimony became public that Google called Match Group to ask why his testimony differed from the company’s comments in their latest earnings call.
On the earnings call, Match executives said they believed they were having production conversations about google’s 30 percent in-app payment fee through its Google Play store. However, in testimony Match complained that Google had made “false pretenses of an open platform” and complained about its “monopoly power.”
Google’s senior director of public policy and government relations, Wilson White, said that it sounded like Google’s business development team contacted Match to ask an “honest question.” He said that he didn’t view it as a threat “and we would never threaten our partners.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said the call was “potentially actionable.” Similarly, Spotify’s Chief Legal Officer Horacio Gutierrez stated that he could recall “at least four clear examples of threats and retaliation” from Apple after Spotify spoke out against Apple’s alleged anticompetitive behavior.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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