Elizabeth Warren's Big Tech Breakup Plan Officially Targets Apple
Senator Elizabeth Warren confirms that her proposal to break up major tech companies includes Apple, requiring the company to choose between running the App Store and selling its own apps.
Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren confirms that her proposed breakup of major tech companies explicitly includes Apple. Under her new policy, Apple qualifies as a "platform utility" because it generates more than $25 billion in global annual revenue, putting it in the same regulatory crosshairs as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.
Warren argues that Apple holds an unfair competitive advantage by both operating the App Store and distributing its own applications within it. She insists that the company must choose one role or the other, as running the platform gives Apple access to valuable seller data and the ability to artificially promote its own products over those of third-party developers.
To address this issue, Warren proposes legislation that prohibits any designated platform utility from owning both the marketplace and participating businesses on that platform. A spokesperson for Warren confirms to TechCrunch that this means Apple would have to structurally separate, forcing it to decide between managing the App Store or offering its own apps to consumers.