Rave files antitrust lawsuit against Apple over removal of video-sharing app

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, May 8 (Reuters) - ‌Software developer Rave ​on Thursday ​filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the iPhone maker kicked Rave's app for shared viewing of video content off the Apple App Store after introducing ‌a competing product called SharePlay.

Ontario, Canada-based Rave is demanding reinstatement into the App Store ⁠and "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages, according to the complaint filed in U.S. federal court in New Jersey.

“We ‌reject these baseless allegations," Apple said ‌in a statement. "The Rave app was removed following repeated guideline violations, which we communicated to the developer on multiple occasions. These violations included hosting and sharing pornographic and pirated content, and user ​complaints regarding CSAM," an abbreviation for child sexual abuse material.

In a prepared statement addressing Apple's claims, a Rave spokesperson called the CSAM allegations "baseless." The company said it "has zero tolerance for unlawful or ⁠exploitative content," and said Apple "removed a cross-platform competitor from its App Store to increase its monopoly profits without a fair or transparent process."

Founded ​in 2013, Rave makes an app that lets users watch and discuss video content together across Apple's iOS operating system, Android, Windows and Apple's Mac ​computers. The app remains available on Android and Windows.

In the ‌legal complaint, Rave alleges that Apple removed its app from the App Store in 2025 for what Apple called “dishonest or fraudulent activity.” Rave alleges that ⁠Apple's true reason for the removal was that Rave, which relied mostly on advertising revenue and therefore did not generate commission revenue for Apple from in-app purchases, competed with a similar Apple product called SharePlay that Apple introduced ⁠in 2021.

“Apple’s pretextual removal of Rave from the App Store has harmed consumers significantly by limiting choice and effectively ​preventing Apple customers from co-viewing and connecting with non-Apple customers,” Michael Pazaratz, CEO of Rave, said in a press release.

“Apple’s actions denied users access to a product they enjoy, disrupted the communities built on Rave and impaired Rave’s ‌ability to compete fairly based on the strength of its product.”

Apple has been in an antitrust dispute with "Fortnite" creator Epic Games since 2020 over its ‌practice of charging commissions for in-app purchases that resulted in sweeping changes to Apple's business model. The U.S. Supreme ⁠Court last week sent the case back ‌to U.S. federal court in ​California.

Rave also said on Thursday it has filed similar antitrust legal actions against Apple in Canada, Russia, the Netherlands and Brazil.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco;Editing by ‌Nick Zieminski)

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