Epic CEO Tim Sweeney: ‘Every politician should fear’ Apple app control

CARY – Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is stepping up his longtime battle with Apple, saying in an interview that “every politician should fear” Apple’s control over apps.

“I think it’s incredibly dangerous to allow the world’s most powerful corporation to decide who is allowed to say what,” he told The Verge on Thursday.

Sweeney is worried that anti-big tech legislation may fail in Congress and was reacting to recent news that Apple reportedly cut back on advertising at Twitter. He’s been waging a legal fight with Apple – and Google – for more than two years after each of the tech giants banned Epic and its globally popular hit Fortnite from their app stores.

Those comments came after Sweeney tweeted recently that “Apple is a menace to freedom worldwide.”

“They maintain an illegal monopoly on app distribution, they use it to control American discourse, and they’re endangering protesters in China by storing sensitive customer data in a state-owned data center,” he added.

Apple is a menace to freedom worldwide. They maintain an illegal monopoly on app distribution, they use it to control American discourse, and they're endangering protesters in China by storing sensitive customer data in a state-owned data center.https://t.co/DX1SmULPZe

— Possibly Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) November 28, 2022

In his talk with The Verge, Sweeney added: “I think there’s something in antitrust enforcement for everybody, regardless of partisan political views. Apple’s monopoly, it truly is strangling the digital economy. They’re strangling the app market, they’re strangling the music market, they’re strangling the TV market. And this has implications in a lot of ways.”

Read the full interview at: https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/8/23500363/tim-sweeney-epic-games-ceo-interview-apple-app-store-google-legislaton