- Apple’sCEO Tim Cook has been sent a formal letter from the House Innovation Subcommittee.
- In it, the company was asked to clarify its position on the App Store’s governance principles.
- The politicians expressed concern that the corporate giant’s artificial restriction of blockchain and NFT would have adverse consequences.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Jan Schakowsky have written an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook. In it, they expressed concern about the potential impact of the organization’s policies on Web3 development in the country.
The two congressmen are members of the Subcommittee on Innovation. In the letter, the lawmakers asked the company to provide and clarify guidelines for App Store management policies.
“The authors expressed broad concerns regarding how Apple’s stance could negatively impact U.S. leadership in the tech industry,” reads a note on Bilirakis’ official website.
According to it, the politicians cited the Axie Infinity case as an example of such behavior by the organization. The game’s client didn’t appear on the App Store until May 2023, prior to which the app was banned for violating corporate rules.
The company didn’t add an exception for NFT to its “Terms of Use” until October 2022. Apple had previously positioned non-replaceable tokens as gambling, and therefore they could not be promoted in mobile apps.
In the letter, the lawmakers also indirectly accused the corporation of attempting to dominate the market:
“Our committee remains committed to promoting full transparency and ensuring that large tech companies are held accountable for monopolistic behavior.”
.