The App Store Freedom Act Compromises User Privacy To Punish Big Tech

The bill "raises the risk of malware," warns one tech expert.

For years, federal lawmakers and regulators have used their power to penalize Big Tech companies for successfully serving American consumers. Rep. Kat Cammack (R–Fla.) is continuing this trend.

On Tuesday, Cammack introduced the App Store Freedom Act, which intends to promote competition in the digital marketplace by forcing interoperability and open app development requirements on widely used app stores and operating systems. While Cammack says the bill will promote consumer choice, it would unintentionally deny consumers the ability to choose a private, secure, and reliable smartphone experience.

The legislation was introduced less than a week after a federal judge ruled against Apple in a five-year-long antitrust case brought against it by Epic Games. Epic sued Apple in 2020 for "forcing app makers to use its payment system in exchange for access to the App Store," from which it collects a 30 percent commission, explains The New York Times. The judge ordered Apple in 2022 to allow developers to solicit payment from users outside the App Store and, most recently, forbade Apple from taking any commission on these sales.

The App Store Freedom Act would require smartphone companies with over 100 million users in the U.S. to allow the installation of third-party app stores, as well as third-party apps, on their operating systems. It also forces covered companies to provide third-party developers with free access to all features accessible to their partners (those developers that only use the company's app store). Finally, the legislation would outlaw requiring developers to use the company's in-app payment system and require companies to allow developers to offer deals through a payment system not owned by the company.

Shoshana Weissmann, resident technology and innovation fellow at the R Street Institute, tells Reason that the bill "isn't about apps at all but dislike of certain providers." Android permits users to download apps from "Unknown Sources," i.e., outside of the Google Play Store, so most provisions of the legislation don't apply to it; the act seems to be a bill of attainder against Apple. Compelling Apple to modify its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores requires it to "change core security functions that protect everyone's data," not just those who install third-party apps, says Amy Bos, director of state and federal affairs for NetChoice, a trade association that advocates for free enterprise on the internet.

Bos explains that the proposed legislation may require covered companies to give developers access to "lower-level system interfaces not designed for third-party access [and] hardware features with security implications (biometric sensors, secure enclaves)," raising security concerns for all users—even those who do not install third-party apps. Alex Reinauer, a research fellow with the Center for Technology and Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, tells Reason that the bill would largely eliminate the vetting process companies have to decide which developers may access certain APIs. "Opening up all API access to all third parties raises the risk of malware and generally threatens system reliability," explains Reinauer.

Jennifer Huddleston, senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, says the bill's requirement that app stores allow additional payment systems may open up cybersecurity concerns and dilute the trust of app stores that new apps often rely on. Reinauer predicts that covered companies would limit features across the board to avoid having to share them with dubious developers, which would likewise reduce innovation.

The bill itself recognizes that it may inadvertently render iPhones—and the 155 million Americans who use them—less secure; it disclaims that it does not "require a covered company…to provide service under a hardware or software warranty for damage caused by a third-party app or app store." That means if users are harmed by third-party apps, they will not be able to seek damages from Apple or Google.

The App Store Freedom Act is not a victory for the free market or consumer choice. Instead, it seeks to plan the digital economy, forcing private companies to modify their operating systems while depriving consumers of their digital and financial security. Even for those who share Cammack's goal of "hold[ing] Big Tech accountable and prompt[ing] competition," compromising smartphone user data is a poor means of achieving this objective.