AICOA would force Apple and Google to allow sideloading. Europe's DMA already proved the result: malware, fraud, and a porn app on iPhones. Congress should study the EU's mistakes before importing them.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) was reintroduced Wednesday night in the 119th Congress. The bill would force Apple and Google to let users download apps from any third-party storefront, not just the curated App Store and Google Play. Europe tried this with its Digital Markets Act. The results are a warning, not a model.
Apple's App Review team evaluated more than 9.1 million app submissions in 2025. The company rejected over 2 million of them – 1.2 million new apps and nearly 800,000 updates – for failing to meet its guidelines. Apple also terminated 193,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and rejected more than 138,000 developer enrollments. Google, for its part, prevented over 1.75 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play and banned more than 80,000 bad developer accounts.
These numbers describe a centralized vetting operation that works. iPhone users, whose devices maintain high barriers against third-party downloads, face malware at very low rates. The malware business is sophisticated. The average user cannot confront it alone. Trusted app stores act as gatekeepers, keeping malicious code out of the paddock.
The DMA changed that in Europe. The Washington Post reported that an iPhone porn app called Hot Tub is now available from one of the non-Apple mini app stores created in the wake of the law. Parents who put iPhones in their children's pockets in the U.S. can be confident that certain kinds of applications – pornography apps, for instance – are not stocked on the App Store and cannot be downloaded from third-party stores. The DMA stripped European parents of that confidence.
AICOA would do the same thing. The bill's supporters argue it increases consumer choice and competition. The actual effect would be to fracture the cybersecurity protections that make the App Store and Google Play safe. Users who want to sideload can already do so on Android. Apple users who want that flexibility can switch platforms. The choice exists. AICOA would eliminate the choice to buy a high-security device.
Interventionist technology policy rarely limits itself to the stated object of intervention. The effects radiate outward, damaging features users value. The EU has provided case studies. American lawmakers have only to study them.
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