Senate Judiciary Panel Approves App Store Payments Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed a tech competition bill that targets the Google and Apple app stores and the restrictions they place on developers.

As CNBC reported, the committed voted 20-2 on Thursday (Feb. 3) to advance the Open App Markets Act, with Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both Republicans, dissenting.

The votes came weeks after the panel approved the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which bars tech companies from showing favoritism to their own products or services.

Read more: Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Big Tech Antitrust Bill

As CNBC notes, the broad support for Thursday’s bill is a promising sign for its sponsors, as the more far-reaching American Innovation and Choice Online Act saw six Republicans vote to keep it from moving to the full Senate.

The Open App Markets Act says app stores with more than 50 million U.S. users are not allowed to require developers to use the platform’s payment system as a condition for distribution.

Additionally, the app stores can’t prevent or penalize developers for offering their apps at different price points in other locations. Lastly, the bill requires that stores allow developers to correspond directly with users for legitimate business reasons.

Google and Apple have opposed the bill, saying it could compromise consumer privacy and lead to a diminished user experience.

“This bill could destroy many consumer benefits that current payment systems provide and distort competition by exempting gaming platforms, which amounts to Congress trying to artificially pick winners and losers in a highly competitive marketplace,” Mark Isakowitz, Google vice president of government affairs and public policy, said in a statement.

In a letter to the committee obtained by CNBC, Apple Senior Director of Government Affairs in the Americas Timothy Powderly wrote that the company was “deeply concerned that the legislation, unless amended, would make it easier for big social media platforms to avoid the pro-consumer practices of Apple’s App Store, and allow them to continue business as usual.”