Industry officials, however, argued that consumers actually do have choices in payment methods and app developers have options for distributing their software.
Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, a trade association that promotes free speech and free enterprise on the internet, noted in a House committee hearing Wednesday that companies such as Netflix and Spotify require their users to go directly to their company websites to sign up for services and therefore pay Apple and Google no commission fees for distributing their apps.