According to Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice is reportedly set to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple (AAPL-US) as early as Thursday (21st), accusing the world’s second-largest tech company of preventing competitors from accessing iPhone hardware and software features.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the Department of Justice is expected to file the lawsuit in federal court, escalating the Biden administration’s antitrust fight against major US tech giants. Currently, the Department of Justice has sued Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL-US) under antitrust laws, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also suing Meta (META-US) and Amazon (AMZN-US).
Both Apple and the Department of Justice have not immediately responded to requests for comments on the above report.
In response to this news, Apple’s stock fell nearly 1.5% at the close on Wednesday (20th), ending at $178.67. As of Wednesday’s closing, Apple has fallen about 7.2% this year.
This lawsuit will be the third time in the past 14 years that the Department of Justice has sued Apple under antitrust laws, but it is the first case accusing the iPhone manufacturer of illegally maintaining market dominance.
In addition to the cases mentioned above, Apple also faces increasing scrutiny in Europe for alleged anti-competitive behavior. Just this month, the company was fined €1.8 billion by the European Union for preventing streaming music competitors like Spotify from recommending more favorable subscription options to users. Apple has appealed this charge, citing that regulatory authorities “found no credible evidence of harm to consumers.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which took effect earlier this month, could subject Apple to more comprehensive investigations.