Competition authority Antitrust Office targets Apple

As of: June 21, 2021 2:46 p.m.

The Federal Cartel Office is now also investigating Apple. Above all, the US group’s business conduct in the App Store wants to investigate. Similar proceedings are in progress against other large tech companies. The Federal Cartel Office initiates investigations against the technology group Apple. The authority wants to find out whether the US group with parts of its business a “cross-market importance” has in competition. Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said: “We will now examine whether Apple has built a digital ecosystem across several markets around the iPhone with the proprietary iOS operating system.” After all, the US group also produces tablets, computers, headphones and watches and sells them at the same time “a range of device-related services and services”. The Group’s Services division includes the App Store, iCloud, technical support at AppleCare, the Apple Music music service, the range of games in front of Apple Arcade, the Apple TV + streaming service and other services.

EU sees unfair competition

During its investigation, the Cartel Office will also examine Apple’s technical and financial resources as well as access to data, according to Mundt. One focus of the investigation will be on the operation of the app store, as this enables the group in many cases to influence the business activities of third parties.

Apple’s app store system is already being investigated by the EU Commission, which accuses the group of unfair competition with other providers of music streaming services. Among other things, it is controversial that 15 to 30 percent of the digital revenues in the App Store go to Apple. “We look forward to discussing our approach with the Federal Cartel Office and engaging in an open dialogue about any concerns”it said in a response from Apple. The group is “proud to be an engine for innovation and jobs”. The iOS platform alone supports more than 250,000 workplaces in Germany.

Cartel office can intervene earlier

The background to the investigation is a reform of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) in January. A central component is the modernization of abuse control. The supervisory authorities can now intervene earlier in the event of suspected violations by large digital corporations and prohibit anti-competitive practices.

This also makes it easier for the Cartel Office to take action against large digital companies that are important to competition across borders between different market areas. This has already had consequences: the last time the Bonn authority was against the online network Facebook and in May against the mail order company Amazon and against the internet company Google Investigation started.

According to the cartel office, an expansion of the investigation against Apple is imminent. The authority intends to “to take a closer look at Apple’s specific behavior in a possible further procedure”. The Office has received various complaints against potentially anti-competitive practices

Two smugglers are sitting in the car with two migrants – who want to illegally cross into the US in the back seat. The target group will use that steel pole as a temporary ladder to lift two people who want to cross the wall and enter the United States. Each week, tens of thousands of people migrate to the United States, mostly unaccompanied minors. The increase in the number of migrants once again overwhelms the unprepared immigration system of the United States, which has faced over the years but has not yet addressed its dilemma – shortages. Equipment facilities, overcrowded refugee zones … That’s the consequence of a flourishing illegal trafficking activity again in this area. The border wall at the US-Mexico border separates El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Júarez, Mexico. Bringing smuggled migrants – a lucrative “business” industry The two smugglers mentioned above are brothers. They are the guys who specialize in bringing people into America with the help of his brother’s 14-year-old son. There is very little data available to accurately quantify the number of migrants who use the services of smugglers to take the journey they think will change their lives. But most experts agree that many have used a smuggler for at least part of their journey, in ways that can vary from taking a taxi between towns to a full package. migrate. According to a 2018 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that more than 800,000 migrants from around the world illegally crossed into Mexico and since then, smuggled or attempted to find your way into the US each year, based on a review of data from 2014 and 2015. Only a small fraction of migrants avoid being arrested before reaching their final destination in the United States, despite the hefty fees paid to make the trip. According to the report, costs can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars depending on a number of factors, largely based on the total distance of the journey and how many borders need to be crossed. This amount can leave migrants penniless, many of them migrating in the first place due to extreme poverty in their country of origin. The UN report estimates that business attempting to bring people into Mexico and the United States illegally is worth about $ 4 billion a year, according to data from 2014 and 2015. A woman and three young children race toward a wall on the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Júarez, Mexico. Locations of cartel bosses According to investigative documents, a large portion of the money spent on smuggling will fall into the hands of organized crime, especially in Mexico. Victor Manjarrez, former Head of Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, said: “Human smuggling is a multimillion-dollar industry and I would venture to guess it was moving toward an industry. billion USD. Manjarrez says organized crime groups have used the money to create sophisticated smuggling networks that, in some cases, operate across the country. “It’s almost like a Fortune 500 company tackling their supply chain,” he said. It is a ruthless business, people migrate as commodities, not people, and they are certainly exploited. ” One of the brothers interviewed by CNN, the Ciudad Júarez smuggler said he was recruited for the job after moving to his home on the border. “Some people asked me if I wanted to join, and I said yes. That’s why I’m here.” In this case, the “guys” he alluded to were members of the Júarez gang – one of Mexico’s oldest and most powerful organized crime groups – whose smugglers said they worked on duty. continued. The two brothers told CNN, each migrant must pay $ 2,000 to cross the border here. The smugglers then receive a salary, or commission for their work. It’s a system that operates across the US-Mexico border. Traffickers who operate in these areas almost always operate in one of two ways – working directly for the gang in charge of that individual or working independently but paying the gang a tax to get it. the right to transit the above smuggling line. “Most smugglers engage in complex activities either get to know each other due to kinship or friendship, or have entered into ad hoc partnerships with larger, well-resourced groups. more “, according to a 2018 United Nations report. US President Joe Biden has stopped building the US – Mexico border wall. Go north Tens of thousands of migrants have fled their homeland in Central America for a multitude of reasons, poverty and corruption continue to rage in countries like Honduras, and food insecurity is on the rise. like Guatemala, and gang violence continues to pervade El Salvador. Two major Category 4 hurricanes also hit the region late last year, destroying social infrastructure, and the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to devastate troubled regional economies. Stories of rape and abuse often occur in migrant areas along the border. Psychologist Claudia Grisel Villalobos Esparza, who works at Nohemí Álvarez Quillay, a shelter for unaccompanied minors in Ciudad Júarez, said. The families of the smugglers, led by the two brothers, told CNN they have heard of so many cases of abuse. They even brought up smugglers who, a few weeks earlier, had released two children across a border wall not far from their home – a case that caused a stir in America. While it is not possible to verify how they treat migrants, even if they treat migrants well, it is not for the sake of migrants. According to experts such as the psychologist at Ciudad Júarez, each time they are compensated for their work, these employees help maintain a system of kidnappings, rape, extortion, and even Murderous lice are rampant. While extensive data quantifying the specific threats migrants face smugglers is not available, the Human Rights First report released last month reported at least 492 attacks. public and abduction of asylum seekers. A 2017 report by Medicins San Frontieres found that nearly a third of the women migrating from Mexico interviewed had experienced some form of sexual abuse on their journey north, nearly 70% of all. interviewed had experienced violence in some form. The last stage of the journey CNN chose to document the smuggler’s progress to shed light on what’s happening along the daily border as the immigration debate is taking place within the United States. Returning to the blue sedan incident, after plunging from a side street, it stopped a few hundred meters on the road in front of us. The two men stepped out and went to get the makeshift ladder, which is the iron bar tied to the side mirror. The smugglers were looking for a good spot to try and cross, then they told us, a site where the US Border Patrol would be too far away to catch them. About 10 minutes drive, the sedan stops along a stretch of highway. One of the smugglers got out of the car with two migrants, one of whom grabbed a makeshift ladder, the border wall about 500 meters away. A quick dash off the road and the trio entered the sandy desert that was the hallmark of this arid landscape. The group of people forward, dragging the metal ladder, behind the exhausted gasp of migrants is the sound of the smuggler’s occasional instruction: “Get lower!” He screamed at one point when a Border Patrol truck drove across the border. Halfway through the wall, the group took a break, and we only had about 30 seconds to talk to the migrants. They are Ecuadorian, one man and woman, 18 and 20 years old, with nothing but clothes on their backs and two bottles of water. They have paid smugglers thousands of dollars to get there, and they hope to find work in South Texas. But the only way they could do it was to get past the wall. After gazing intently at a small bush, looking for any signs of law enforcement, the smuggler signaled it was time to push the final wall. Crouching in a low run, they made the final distance in about a minute. The 18-year-old then lifts the ladder and the smuggler helps him hook one end to the end of the fence, the ladder curves over the wall like a candy. The young man threw both bottles of water over the fence and immediately took the ladder, shaking hands quickly until it reached the top of the 15-20 feet high wall. He quickly lowered himself to the other side, dropped into what looked like an unused construction site, and then it was the young woman’s turn. Just a little slower, she did the same thing. They both passed through the desert on the other side and the traffickers were back on the highway. To the two migrants, there seems to be little plan on what to do next, confused and overwhelmed, both running towards an uncertain future. There is only a bit of desert on that side of the wall. Yes, they have made it to America, but far from the end of their journey, they obviously have a lot left to answer: Where are they going? What will they do? How will they make money? What if they are caught by immigration? These are questions that we cannot answer. For smugglers, those are immaterial queries – very simple in fact. They don’t know what happened to them on the other side and don’t really want to know. Their job is to get them over the wall and that’s it.