Spotify has also met with a special internet-focused group that is part of the Federal Trade Commission

The same issues found in the class-action suit mirror what the House is hearing about Apple from Spotify. Being a closed system, the App Store is the only place where third party developers can do business with 900 million active iPhone users. By the way, these are the same users that Apple is targeting with its focus on the Services segment of its business. With global iPhone sales peaking in 2015, the manufacturer has focused on making money by selling active users a number of subscription services including Apple Music. Included under the Services umbrella is the revenue generated by the Apple Tax. Apple has already publicly stated its goal of hitting $50 billion in Services revenue by next year.

According to one unnamed source, Spotify has met to discuss Apple with officials of the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FTC’s Technology Task Force. The latter is a group of 17 attorneys who investigate competition among internet companies and online platforms.

Reuters’ report also points out that Apple has been known to copy some features of third-party apps that it adds to its own listings in the App Store. This obviously could be an example of anticompetitive behavior that lawmakers will have to sift through. The news agency mentions as an example that several third-party apps found in the App Store already offered a way to track a female’s monthly reproductive cycle; Apple announced that this would be added as a feature on the company’s own health tracking app this year. Another complaint made by developers is that virtual assistant Siri has much more limited functionality on their apps compared to the apps developed by Apple itself.

Even though the House is currently bogged down and is in the middle of what many would consider to be more important investigations, it does appear that tech firms like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are still going to be probed for antitrust violations in the year ahead.