Sponsors (6)
Official title: Promote competition and reduce gatekeeper power in the app economy, increase choice, improve quality, and reduce costs for consumers.
Introduced June 24, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress June 24, 2025
The bill increases competition and user control in mobile app ecosystems—helping independent developers and giving consumers more choice—while raising security risks, litigation and compliance costs, and uncertainty that could prompt platform responses that raise prices or reduce support.
Independent and small app developers gain the ability to offer alternative in‑app payment systems, distribute outside platform‑owned app stores, and get timely, equivalent access to OS interfaces, hardware features, and documentation, improving revenue retention, competition, and app discovery.
Consumers gain more control over their devices: they can install/set third‑party apps or app stores as defaults, remove preinstalled apps, receive opt‑in risk disclosures before using third‑party stores, and limit apps' access to device features and data.
Expanded enforcement and private remedies (state attorneys general suits, treble damages for U.S.-controlled developers, and FTC civil enforcement/penalties) strengthen deterrence and give developers and consumers more avenues to stop unlawful platform practices.
Users face higher security and privacy risks from allowing sideloading and third‑party app stores (increased malware, phishing, fraudulent apps) because vetting and centralized controls may be weaker outside platform stores.
Expanded private lawsuits (including treble damages), state and federal enforcement increase litigation and compliance costs for platforms and developers, which are likely to be passed to consumers or reduce available services and investment.
Platforms may respond to reduced control over payments and distribution by raising fees, changing business models, reducing warranty/support, or limiting services for third‑party apps—raising costs for consumers and imposing burdens on small developers.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Restricts dominant app stores from forcing payment systems or self‑preferencing, requires interoperability and nondiscriminatory access, and creates public and private enforcement.
Prohibits dominant platform owners that control app stores and the underlying operating system from forcing developers to use platform-controlled in-app payment systems, self‑preferencing their own apps, or using developers’ nonpublic business data to compete against them. The bill requires interoperability and nondiscriminatory access to OS interfaces and documentation, creates private and public enforcement tools (FTC, DOJ, state attorneys general, and developer lawsuits), allows narrowly tailored security/privacy defenses, mandates agency reviews of market effects, and takes effect 180 days after enactment.