Apple's App Store 'Gatekeeping' Harms 'Honest Developers,' Says Antitrust Suit

App developers have limited options with only two dominant platforms available to publish their apps, said the complaint, citing the Apple and Google stores. If Apple terminates a developer’s account, the developer’s business prospects “are destroyed,” said the complaint. The lawsuit arises from Apple’s “unlawful termination” of 618Media’s developer account, resulting in “significant financial and reputational harm to 618Media and its stakeholders,” said the complaint.

The plaintiff alleges Apple’s actions, over alleged contract breaches, have caused it losses of over $23,000 monthly in recurring revenue, plus loss of goodwill associated with its business and legal fees.

In August, 618Media had multiple communications with Apple’s App Review team over issues related to its Reports AI app and successfully addressed all but one related to an unexplained spike in downloads on Aug. 23, said the complaint. The review team told 618Media it noticed its app includes trademarked terms or names such as Chat GPT, said the complaint. The team instructed the plaintiff to revise the app name and subtitle to avoid the use of trademarked or popular app names, it said.

On the same date, before Media618 CEO Oguzhan Karahan could respond to the review team’s message, he received a termination notice for its Apple Developer Agreement (ADA) and Apple Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA), saying 618Media’s Apple Developer Program membership violated the DPLA “due to documented indications of fraudulent conduct associated with [618Media’s] account,” prompting the termination.

The termination occurred without warning, preventing the app developer from making necessary adjustments or addressing potential issues under the DPLA, said the complaint. Chat GPT “was never part of 618Media’s app name, as Apple alleged,” the complaint said. A chatbot that “functioned with” the Chat GPT application programming interface was included in the app, and 618Media announced the chatbot option “as an in-app event,” the complaint said. If Karahan had been “given time to respond” to the message, “he would have simply deleted the in-app event,” it said.

Apple’s termination notice also referenced “dishonest and fraudulent acts relating to the ADA” without identifying the offending activity, the complaint said. Apple also didn’t give guidance for how to resolve the issue, saying only that the developer could “file an official complaint pursuant to an applicable Platform Regulation in [its] country or region.” Because the defendant hadn’t identified a specific issue, 618Media “was unsure under which grounds to appeal and respond effectively,” it said.

Apple “levied serious allegations of misconduct against 618Media without providing any facts, examples, or details supporting its unilateral termination of the developer’s ADP membership, and then deprived 618Media of a meaningful opportunity to appeal Apple’s arbitrary business-killing decision,” alleged the complaint. The company withheld revenue of $36,402, “severely impacting the liquidity and operational capabilities of 618Media,” it said.

The plaintiff asserts claims of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional and negligent interference with contractual relations and prospective economic advantage, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and the Sherman Act. The developer requests an award of compensatory and consequential damages of not less than $985,000 for losses already sustained, plus accrued and accruing interest, plus loss of future business opportunities in an amount to be proven at the time of trial or entry of judgment. It also seeks treble damages for antitrust violations, attorneys’ fees and costs, and an order permanently enjoining Apple from conspiring to monopolize the Apple App Store.