Apple’s Extortion of Patreon Creators is Fallout From Delayed Justice in Antitrust Lawsuit; Lawmakers Must Act to Fix App Store Markets
August 14, 2024 — Earlier this week, Apple threatened to remove popular crowdfunding app Patreon from the iOS App Store unless Patreon forces the creators using its services—typically independent podcasters, musicians, artists, and developers—to use Apple’s own billing system. This would impose a 30% transaction fee on them, one significantly higher than the fee they currently pay to Patreon. In response, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.
NTIA Commits to Nothing But Continued Coziness with Domain Name Monopolist, Fails to Rein in Verisign’s Inflationary “.Com” Price Hikes
August 6, 2024 — In response to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson’s recent letter announcement that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) is renewing the contract through which the government condones Verisign’s monopoly control over “.com” – the most popular top level domain on the internet – the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.
AAG Kanter’s Antitrust Division Beats Google in Biggest Antitrust Trial of the Century
August 5, 2024 — In response to news that Judge Amit Mehta has sided with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division in its case against Google—ruling that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by maintaining its monopoly in general search services and general text advertising through its billion dollar exclusive default deals—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statements.
FCC Should Allow Tenants to Opt Out of Bulk Billing, Economic Liberties and ~30 Advocacy Groups Argue
August 1, 2024 — The American Economic Liberties Project, Public Knowledge, the American Civil Liberties Union, and nearly 30 other advocacy groups sent a letter yesterday urging the Federal Communications Commission to seek comment on permitting multi-tenant building residents to opt-out of bulk billing arrangements—which can limit access to lower-priced and higher-quality broadband and cable services.
Economic Liberties Applauds DOT, Congress for Taking Action to Ban the Most Egregious Airline Junk Fee
August 1, 2024 — In response to news that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced a new rulemaking based on a recent Congressional directive to prohibit airlines from charging “seating fees” for families to sit together with children 13 years old and under, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.