Department of Justice could file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple as soon as March

After more than four years of investigations, the Department of Justice is preparing to sue Apple for alleged anticompetitive behavior, potentially in the next few months.

Allegedly, the Justice Department is looking to file the lawsuit in the first quarter of the year, potentially in March, sources told Bloomberg. However, the timing could slip as the DOJ’s most senior antitrust officials haven’t yet signed off on the complaint.

In 2019, the saga kicked off when the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee requested information from Spotify regarding Apple’s alleged anticompetitive behavior and how it affected Spotify’s business. Spotify accused Apple of giving themselves unfair advantages at every opportunity.

In June 2020, members of the DoJ and a coalition of state attorneys general had discussions with several companies that accused Apple of engaging in anticompetitive behavior.

In 2021, the Department of Justice looked into Apple’s treatment of Roblox developers. The complaint was similar to Epic’s, which involved Apple’s commission on in-app purchases and the inability to create a third-party App Store.

In August 2022, sources indicated that the Department of Justice was about to take action on a complaint from Tile, a tracker manufacturer.