The Biden administration urged Congress to open up app stores to increased competition.
In a Commerce Department report published Wednesday, Apple and Google were accused of running online app markets that harm consumers and developers.
The report calls for new legislation and for agencies like the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to enforce them better to boost competition in the online app market.
The recommendations include banning stores from self-preferencing a company’s own apps and allowing consumers to download software from alternative platforms.
“From finding directions to chatting with loved ones, apps are a critical tool for consumers and an essential part of doing business online,” Alan Davidson, assistant commerce secretary for communications and information and NTIA administrator, said in a statement Wednesday.
“It is more important than ever that the market for mobile apps remains competitive.”
Over the last few years, members of the House and Senate antitrust subcommittees introduced measures like he Open App Markets Act, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), which is exactly what the current report calls for.
Klobuchar’s bill, which would ban Apple and Google from requiring developers to use their stores, had bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, but leaders never brought the legislation up for a vote.
That could be up for change as the new Commerce Department carves out a plan.
Last August, Apple moved to resolve a class action lawsuit posed by US developers by overhauling some of its controversial App Store policies.
These changes allowed app developers to contact consumers over email to alert them to outside payment methods, but consumers are required to opt in to those communications before they receive them.