I have seen some apps self censor because of Apple's moral police over incidental nudity (well no full nudity: the pictures have people wearing swimsuits) even though that level is completely legal for that age range where the app is being distributed.The DMA is more than about lowering prices. It's about user choice and freedom. It's about being able to get apps from places besides Apple's App Store because when Apple's in charge, they can pull apps off their store.
Apple pulls two gay dating apps in China under government order
Apple says it has pulled two popular gay dating apps in China following an order from Chinese authorities in the latest evidence of their tightening grip on the LGBTQ+ community.apnews.com
Apple pulls two gay dating apps in China under government order
November 11, 2025
BANGKOK (AP) — Apple said it has pulled two of China’s biggest gay dating apps, Blued and Finka, under pressure from Chinese authorities, in the latest sign of a tightening grip on the LGBTQ+ community.
An Apple spokesperson said in a statement that the company removed the two dating apps from China “based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China”, without further elaborating.
Another popular gay dating app, Grindr, was pulled from Apple’s app store in China in 2022.
Last year, Apple also reportedly removed apps including WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China under an order by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
or Apple can be the moral police and decide what apps (e.g. porn) you cannot have.
That’s because people are stupid. Most consumer laws are written to benefit unnamed wealthy people, it’s just figuring out HOW the law does that is the challenge.
Why should others profit from Apples work then? They created the platform. Or do companies give other companies free shelf space in their stores.
Done nothing expect created the store and build up the costumer base so developers have an easy distribution for their Apps. Most Apps are trash even in iOS and are only successful because of iOS.
Free shelf space, no. But in some sectors competitors do get regulated access to infrastructure. Utilities and internet last mile access works that way in many parts of the EU.
You can go to another store by buying another Smartphone with a different OS. If you are in a store and you can’t find something you go to the other store. Like stores are not obligated to have your products on the shelf Apple is not obligated to distribute your Apps. And yes you own the phone but not the OS.
They created the platform, yes. I paid for that and they made a profit.
You're primarily paying for the hardware being sold to you. You get seven years of free software support (with no data sold to ad companies for that free software support) and no shady apps, although most apps aren't perfect on iOS either but they're still more trustworthy. When you buy a Coke in a store, the store makes money on that one Coke. Coca Cola manufactured and bottled the liquid, so why should the store profit? They should profit because Coca Cola chose that store as a distributor.
Precisely. Apple might be hinging its argument here based on a subset of words somewhere on what might happen with an open marketplace, but that was by no means the reason for shutting the cookie jar lid.
It was more about the EU "protecting" their own tech companies cough cough Spotify. Spotifys business model didn’t made a profit until recently. They were in trouble. Why else should they go after Apple of all tech companies. Apple doesn’t have a big market share in Europe. The EUs target was the 30%. The whole thing was lobbied by Spotify and others.
And the North was pissed that the South’s slaveholding gave them an outsized and unfair economic advantage. But slavery was still rapacious and inhuman and needed to end. Just because there were some economic incentives informing certain people’s opinions against it did not mean that the evils perpetrated were themselves okay. They were not.
You just compared slavery with Apple charging the standard 30% so developers can have access to their distribution channels. And yes its a big deal if the EU has to safe Spotify because their business model doesn’t work.
The study says that the percentage of fee reductions does not change over a longer eight-month period, and that the Core Technology Fee paid by apps with more than one million first-time installs per year also does not change the results. 80 percent of the apps in the study did not pay the CTF.
And EU commissioned study isn't going to say anything other than..... Oh right.
This does not make sense, at all. Most of the companies that would benefit from lower fees and strict enforcement of the other rules are actually US companies.
Well, if Apple based it off of Maths. Then it's fairly easy to verify the findings.