The Justice Department has run a probe into Apple’s App Store practices since 2020, examining behavior that developers said was anticompetitive. Years later, the probe is still underway, with the DoJ facing a potential time crunch to make something of it all.
Jonathan Kanter, DoJ antitrust unit chief since November 2021, claimed to the Financial Times that the App Store policies probe is now “firing on all cylinders.” Though Kanter has previously indicated he wants to bring cases against major US companies like Apple, the DoJ didn’t explicitly comment on the probe’s findings thus far.
The probe is somewhat at risk of becoming stale for the DoJ, as there is a time pressure on the horizon in the form of a presidential election. With the possibility of a change of occupancy in the White House in January 2025, that gives the DoJ just a year to actually bring action against Apple, if it intends to do so.