Congressman Eric Swalwell says Apple and Google should decide what’s allowed on people’s phones

During an appearance at a Tech Antitrust Debate hosted by Axios, Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative for California’s 15th Congressional District (CA-15), opposed sideloading and claimed that users prefer mobile app stores being controlled by Big Tech gatekeepers.

Sideloading is a process where users install apps directly on their device instead of going through an app store but Swalwell framed it as forcing device makers and software platforms to “open up their stores to anyone.” Based on this premise, Swalwell suggested that allowing sideloading would cripple mobile security and benefit China.

“I’m very worried about primarily what China is doing,” Swalwell said. “What China is doing with currency manipulation, what China is doing with intellectual property theft, and of course, what China wants to do every day with espionage. And so one of the issues at play here is sideloading.”