Apple

In 2025, a U.S. federal judge allowed a landmark DOJ lawsuit to proceed, finding plausible evidence that Apple illegally monopolizes the smartphone market by suppressing "super apps," limiting cross-platform messaging, and restricting digital wallet access. Simultaneously, the European Commission issued a €500 million fine for Digital Markets Act violations, ruling that Apple’s "anti-steering" tactics unfairly inflated consumer costs. In the UK, the Competition Appeal Tribunal recently ruled that Apple’s 30% App Store commission is "excessive and unfair," paving the way for a £1.5 billion collective damages claim. These global findings, bolstered by a February 2026 trial date for the Pepper class action and forced regulatory concessions in Japan, demonstrate a persistent reliance on exclusionary market structures to maintain dominance and extract supra-competitive fees.

A July 2025 appellate reversal gave Apple a win when the 5th Circuit found that manager questioning about union sentiment and removal of union flyers were non-coercive under a neutral housekeeping policy. However, ongoing NLRB proceedings through 2026 target captive audience meetings, the alleged retaliatory firing of a Slack-based pay equity advocate, and facially unlawful restrictions on social media and Slack use under the NLRA.