After more than four years of investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to prosecute Apple for alleged monopoly practices, possibly within the next few months. The Justice Department reportedly hopes to file charges in the first quarter of this year, possibly in March, sources told Bloomberg. However, there may be a delay because the Justice Department’s top antitrust officials have not yet signed off on the indictment.
In 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee asked Spotify to provide information about Apple's alleged anti-competitive behavior and how these behaviors affected Spotify's business, thus kicking off the controversy. Spotify accuses Apple of giving it an unfair advantage every chance it gets.
In June 2020, members of the Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general held discussions with several companies that accused Apple of abusing its monopoly position.
In 2021, the Department of Justice investigated Apple's treatment of Roblox developers. The complaints are similar to Epic's and involve Apple's commission on in-app purchases and the inability to create third-party app stores on devices.
In August 2022, sources revealed that the Department of Justice was about to take action on complaints from tracker manufacturer Tile.