The U.S. Federal Trade Commission reportedly is investigating Apple Music and the App Store for anti-competitive behavior related to subscription services.
The FTC could use Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to force Apple to change its App Store business practices, Rutgers University law professor Michael Carrier told IBD. As the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy, tit could decide that Apple’s App Store policies represent an unfair method of competition that benefit its own services, and that they also harm consumers by preventing third-party services from publicizing cheaper payment methods, Carrier said.