Apple

The 'App Store Freedom Act' Would Be Bad for Freedom

And for competition and innovation too

Jack Nicastro | 7.23.2026 3:00 PM

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(Illustration: Google/Apple/Midjourney)

With federal crackdowns on Big Tech in vogue, a bipartisan bill is floating in the halls of Congress that would stymie innovation and hurt American competition abroad.

On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a hearing on the App Store Freedom Act (ASFA).

Introduced by Reps. Kat Cammack (R–Fla.) and Lori Trahan (D–Mass.), ASFA would mandate that Apple and Google allow side-loading—the ability to download third-party app stores and apps—on iOS and Android and prohibit them from conditioning developers' respective access to the App Store and Play Store on the exclusive use of their in-app payment systems or acceptance of most-favored-nation agreements. 

The bill also forces the companies to allow developers to direct users to third-party payment processors without paying fees—and to grant developers the same access to platform features as their own apps. It even forbids the companies from using nonpublic business information........

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