Apple CEO Tim Cook is facing questions in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee today, where he is joined by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
As part of the hearing, Cook has been hit with questions from the committee who voiced complaints from developers who claim Apple does not fairly enforce its own App Store rules, with questions put forth to Cook to find if Apple uses data from the App Store to decide whether the company should build a competing product/service and how the App Store sets its commission rates.
In response to a question put forward by a Congressman, Cook said Apple treats all developers who publish on the App Store with the same set of open and transparent rules. “We care deeply about privacy and quality. We look at every app, but the rules apply evenly to everyone.”
Cook stated that Apple does not favor certain developers over others and that Apple does not arbitrarily enforce its guidelines.
The hearing is ongoing, and Cook is expected to address questions regarding disputes Apple has had with the FBI over encryption and law enforcement access to locked devices, the company’s relationship with China and other matters which the committee may see as Apple having a monopoly.