The group of attorneys general includes those of California, New Jersey and Washington, DC.

Meanwhile, even though Apple has made several changes to its App Store policies in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act, Apple and Google are set to face full-blown EU probes into their compliance in the coming days, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The U.S. probe comes despite Cupertino, California-based Apple having announced earlier that it will allow European users to download iPhone apps from the web, let developers offer discounts outside the App Store and permit third-party marketplaces to sell apps.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department opened its antitrust probe of Apple in 2019. A 2020 House investigation into four tech giants found that Apple operates as a monopoly in software distribution on the iPhone, generating massive profits from commissions of as much as 30% that it charges developers.

In 2020, Epic Games Inc., the maker of the popular online video game Fortnite, sued Apple over its App Store. A federal judge found the App Store policies didn’t violate federal antitrust law but did breach California state law.

As a result of that case, Apple said in January that it would allow U.S. developers to use alternative payment systems, but charge a lower fee of 27% for most digital purchases or 12% on subscriptions. Epic is contesting those changes, saying they are inadequate.

On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and X Corp., the company formerly known as Twitter, also took aim at Apple’s proposed changes, saying the iPhone maker has imposed onerous limitations on links to alternate payment systems.

Latest antitrust challenge

The U.S. lawsuit is the latest in a string of antitrust cases challenging the tech giant. Earlier this month, the European Union fined Apple €1.8 billion ($2 billion) for shutting out rival music services on the iPhone. Apple is appealing.

Last week, the company reversed course and said it would restore Epic’s developer account, allowing the Fortnite maker to build its own EU app store, which could compete with Apple’s own. That came a day after Brussels regulators questioned Apple’s decision to bar Epic and raised the prospect of further fines for the iPhone maker.

The latest case marks the third time the Justice Department has sued Apple for antitrust violations in the past 14 years. In 2010, the company agreed to settle allegations that it illegally agreed not to poach employees from Google, Adobe Inc. or Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar.

Two years later, the Justice Department sued Apple and book publishers for illegally fixing the price of e-books sold on the iPad. After the Justice Department won at trial, Apple was forced to accept a monitor and adopt policies and training to improve its compliance with antitrust law.

Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter said on Thursday that the Justice Department’s suit is distinct from previous lawsuits against Apple, arguing that the company has engaged in a deliberate decadelong course of conduct to maintain and extend its iPhone monopoly. He also pushed back on claims that the case would undermine consumer privacy and security on smartphones.

“Apple’s conduct has made its ecosystem less private and less secure,” Kanter said at the press conference.

(With assistance from Bob Van Voris, Mark Gurman and Samuel Stolton.)

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