ANALYSIS: ‘App Act’ Would Tear Down Walls Courts Have Let Stand

There is a lot of talk about anticompetitive conduct by online platforms in the U.S. But to date, neither lawsuits against the alleged conduct nor legislation introduced to constrain such platforms has proven particularly effective in reining in the offending practices.

That might be about to change. The Open App Markets Act (S. 2710), scheduled for markup before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 20, narrowly targets specific conduct in the market for mobile apps like those on the two major mobile operating systems. It has bipartisan support, evidenced by its sponsorship. It stands a decent chance of ...