By VK 
What’s Going On With Apple?
A U.S. judge has taken serious action against Apple, saying the company didn’t follow a
court order properly and may have lied in court. Now, the case has been sent to
government lawyers (U.S. Attorney’s Office) to see if criminal charges should be filed —
something that doesn’t happen often.
Backstory: Apple vs Epic Games
This all started with a fight between Epic Games (makers of Fortnite) and Apple.
Epic didn’t like that Apple was forcing developers to use its payment system and taking up to
30% of every sale.
In 2021, a judge told Apple:
“Let developers tell users about other ways to pay, like on their own website — and don’t block them from doing it.”
But Apple Didn’t Really Listen
Instead of simply allowing that, Apple:
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Made a new 27% fee if users pay outside the App Store.
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Added scary warnings when someone clicked an outside payment link — making people think it’s unsafe.
So, the judge felt Apple was trying to follow the order on paper, but in reality, still
stopping developers from being free.
What the Judge Said
The judge was very unhappy and said:
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Apple disobeyed the court.
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One of Apple’s top execs, Alex Roman, may have lied under oath about when the new policy was made.
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This wasn’t a mistake — Apple did it on purpose.
Because of that, she sent the case to the U.S. Attorney to check if Apple or its executive should
face criminal contempt charges — which means they could be criminally punished for
breaking the rules and lying.
What Apple and Epic Said
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Apple says it didn’t do anything wrong and plans to appeal (ask another court to review the decision).
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Epic Games is happy and called this a win for all app developers. Their CEO even said Fortnite will come back to iPhones — with its own payment system.
Why This Matters
Apple is already in trouble around the world. In Europe, they were fined €500 million for
similar reasons. This U.S. case adds more pressure and might lead to big changes in how
Apple runs the App Store.