# The Web Is An Antitrust Wedge

DevFeed: [The Web Is An Antitrust Wedge](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-web-is-an-antitrust-wedge-26564.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://infrequently.org/2026/04/the-web-is-an-antitrust-wedge/>)

Author: Alex Russell

Published: 2026-04-03T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Alex Russell](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/alex-russell.md>)

Topics: [Web](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web.md>), [interoperability](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/interoperability.md>), [browsers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/browsers.md>), [Mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mobile.md>), [App](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/app.md>)

Tags: [apple](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apple.md>), [apps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apps.md>), [browsers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/browsers.md>), [competition](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/competition.md>), [interoperability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/interoperability.md>), [regulatory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/regulatory.md>), [web](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web.md>), [web-apps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web-apps.md>), [webdev](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/webdev.md>)

## AI overview

This opinion argues that browsers and progressive web apps should be central to antitrust efforts targeting mobile ecosystems. It contends that regulators are accepting weak enforcement and that focusing mainly on alternative native app stores may leave the existing mobile duopoly's power intact.

## Source excerpt

TL;DR: Armed with new powers to rein in the worst excesses of mobile's duopolists, antitrust bodies around the world are struggling to find their footing, and an incurious tech press is letting it pass with nary a nod. Browsers are app stores, but that perspective is almost entirely absent from the antitrust conversation. Instead of prioritising the one, narrow intervention that can safely unlock maximal competition, regulators are gripped by alt store fever dreams; driving down cul-de-sacs that will leave the duopolists' power intact even if new native app stores materialise. Worse, enforcers of new regulations are choking in the face of blatant non-compliance. Laws designed to kickstart competition and unchain web apps are being flouted, but regulators seem unfazed. The web is an engine of interoperability; this was understood by the drafters of these laws, but enforcers have not internalised the lesson, with the UK's CMA being only the latest to pose capitulation as success. Instead of unlocking growth and dynamism, overcautious regulators are ratifying non-compliance through inaction. Timidity today reduces room for manoeuvre tomorrow while hampering home-grown competitors to Big Tech. As it did twenty-five years ago, the web can unlock maximum change with the lowest risk, but regulators are falling down on the job, and tech reporters are not informing readers of the options or the stakes. It's time we spoke plainly about these overlapping institutional failures. Contents Open Societies Necessitate Interoperability Shared Premises Alt Stores, PWAs, and the App Store Endgame Regulators Are Missing The Ripest Opportunity Cupertino is Running Circles Around Brussels, Tokyo, and London Browsers Are App Stores Our Tech Press is Missing the Story, Too It's a day that ends in "y", which means The Verge is at it again: covering the regulatory tussle over mobile ecosystems without mentioning browsers, the web, or PWAs. This long-established pattern is as frustrating as i