Apple kills state App Store bill
- California’s Senate privacy committee halted Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 1074, a bill targeting Apple and Google’s app-store self-preferencing, after a 3-3 vote. - The BASED Act applied to platforms worth more than $1 trillion with 100 million U.S. monthly users, and had cleared another committee days earlier. - The fight shows how fast state antitrust efforts can stall under coordinated tech lobbying. (sd11.senate.ca.gov)
California’s bid to stop Apple and Google from favoring their own apps and services died in a California Senate committee on April 20. (bloomberg.com) (gibsondunn.com) The bill was SB 1074, known as the BASED Act, written by Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco. It would have barred the biggest digital platforms from pushing users toward their own products in app stores, search, and other marketplaces. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (courthousenews.com) The measure covered companies with market values above $1 trillion and at least 100 million monthly U.S. users, a threshold aimed at Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta. It also sought limits on using third-party business data and on blocking interoperability or data portability. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (9to5mac.com) SB 1074 moved quickly at first. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 14 by an 8-1 vote, then failed six days later in the Senate Committee on Privacy, Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection on a 3-3 deadlock. (legiscan.com) (fastdemocracy.com) Wiener told Bloomberg that Apple and Google “flooded the Capitol with lobbyists” and called the opposition a “tidal wave lobbying effort.” Bloomberg reported that the California Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Progress made killing the bill a priority. (9to5mac.com) (macworld.com) Opponents argued the bill could make search results less useful, deliveries slower, phones less secure, and app marketplaces harder to run. Chamber of Progress, whose listed partners include Apple and Google, pushed those warnings to lawmakers and constituents, according to Bloomberg’s account cited by 9to5Mac. (9to5mac.com) Supporters came from a different corner of the tech industry. Y Combinator and Economic Security California Action backed the bill, and startup founders argued Apple’s platform rules can block rival app stores, emulators, and new software tools. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (courthousenews.com) One founder, Shane Gill of AltStore, said European Union rules created the opening his business needed. Another, Peter Krogh of Blue, said Apple’s restrictions forced his voice-control product to rely on a phone dongle instead of a normal app. (courthousenews.com) The defeat leaves California without a new state rule against self-preferencing by dominant platforms, even as antitrust pressure on Apple and Google continues in courts and other jurisdictions. Wiener told Bloomberg to “stay tuned,” signaling he may try again. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (9to5mac.com)
