Apple sued for using illegal 'monopoly power' to extract more money from consumers

Joe Biden administration has filed an antitrust case, alongside other states against the mobile phone giant Apple amid criticism of its practices to discourage competition, the US media reported Thursday.

The Department of Justice said in a press release: "Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone.” 

It also added: "Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others."

The iPhone maker has been facing investigations for years for its conduct on the app store such as controlling the interaction of third-party applications with Apple’s products and services.

According to critics, Apple has developed a class divide by showing the Android messages in green despite agreement on improving quality standards.

Apple also restricts third-party apps' access to its hardware and allows only its own products to that particular gateway.

The European Union passed laws that directed the tech behemoth to provide access to its iPhone’s tap-to-pay hardware chip, rendering the other competing digital wallets to form their presence. However, it is only limited to the EU.

The current lawsuit will take into account all the practices that are regarded as anticompetitive.

The California technology giant is the only major company sued by the US government on the accusations of violation of antitrust laws.

A report published by the US House in 2020 found that Apple Meta, Google and Amazon, hold "monopoly power."