What you need to know
- A new report reveals Apple spent some $2.5 million in lobbying to open 2022.
- That's up 34% on the previous quarter and a record quarterly high.
- Apple discussed dozens of issues including antitrust matters and legislation that could vastly alter its App Store business model.
Apple has spent a record $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2022, as the company fights a swathe of emerging antitrust legislation.
As reported by Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. spent a record quarterly high of $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2022 amid increased pressure from the U.S. Congress on technology companies over antitrust issues.Apple's lobbying expenditures increased more than 34% from the $1.86 million the company spent in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to disclosure reports released Wednesday. The previous high was $2.2 million, spent in the second quarter of 2017.
According to the report issues discussed include emerging antitrust bills that could completely rearrange the face of Apple's App Store business model, where it charges 15-30% commission on transactions that take place on devices like its best iPhones such as the iPhone 13.
The Open Markets Act could see Apple precluded from making developers use its in-app payment system, possibly depriving Apple of this source of income and giving more developers options in terms of pricing and offering customers services outside of the App Store.
Microsoft spend around the same on lobbying, and Google spent even more at $2.96 million.
Apple spent more than $7 million in the EU last year, again discussing multiple topics including antitrust legislation.
Apple continues to maintain that opening up its App Store to alternative payments and sideloading would be a serious security and privacy risk and that it has every right to collect commission on all the transactions that take place on its mobile devices.
