USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Robert Houck, William Lavery, Joseph Ostoyich and Leigh Oliver, Clifford Chance US
13. Looking Forward 13.1 Legislative Trends and Other Developments Algorithmic Pricing
sources other than the official app store) and enable alternative in-app payment systems, while banning app store operators from self-preferencing their own apps in search results. These measures aim to open up the mobile application marketplace to more com - petition and give both developers and consumers more choices. The original bill passed a Senate com - mittee in 2022 but never made it to the full vote. Its reintroduction in 2025, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, signals ongoing bipartisan support for targeting big tech application distribution. Growth in Antitrust Class Actions The USA continues to represent the most mature and developed market for antitrust class actions. In 2025–2026, the spotlight on antitrust class actions is expected to continue, focusing particularly on big tech. Landmark cases against Google, Apple and Meta are set to test the limits of antitrust laws in the digital realm and the remedies that courts should impose for antitrust violations. Aggressive govern - ment enforcement continues, helping to fuel contin - ued private class actions addressing similar issues. Growth in State Pre-Merger Notifications More states have been passing pre-merger notification laws that allow state attorneys general to review merg - ers alongside federal antitrust agencies. Washington’s and Colorado’s new notification law are effective as of summer 2025. California will implement notification requirements for parties filing on or after 1 January 2026. Similar legislation in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, New York and West Virginia is also being considered. This legislation will allow states to gain access to transaction information earlier or simultane - ously with federal antitrust agencies, initiate investiga - tions or requests proactively, and co-ordinate or act independently of the federal antitrust agencies. State notification of proposed transactions could potentially increase litigation risk for merging parties, especially if they fail to comply with state requirements.
Legislators’ concern continues over potential mis - use of artificial intelligence and algorithmic pricing to reduce competition. Nearly half of state legislatures across the USA are contemplating legislation restrict - ing algorithmic pricing, proposing to prevent compa - nies from using algorithms to collude to set higher prices. Connecticut and New York are the first and second states, respectively, to pass their bills into law. Additionally, US agencies are focused on the potential for algorithmic pricing to lead to price fixing and have withdrawn long-established safety zones that provid - ed guidance on when competitors could share pric - ing and salary information. Ongoing cases concern - ing algorithmic collusion include the Department of Justice’s litigation against RealPage, which allegedly co-ordinated higher prices among lessors of accom - modations by collecting their competitively sensitive information and feeding it into an algorithm, and rec - ommending prices based on the output. Additionally, in an ongoing case, the Department of Justice alleged that Agri Stats, a data company in the meat-process - ing industry, operated an information-sharing scheme that allowed competitors to exchange vast quantities of competitively important data. Mobile Application Stores The Open App Markets Act was reintroduced in June 2025 by US senators, led by Marsha Blackburn (Republican-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat-Connecticut), along with Amy Klobuchar (Democrat-Minnesota), Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) and Mike Lee (Republican-Utah). This bill targets Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. The bill would require app store providers to allow third-party app stores, permit application “sideloading” (which allows customers to install apps on a device from
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