U.S. senators question Apple and Google on app store dominance

FILE PHOTO: Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Rules and Administration committees joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, U.S. February 23, 2021, Erin Scott/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A panel of U.S. senators questioned officials from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google on Wednesday about the dominance of their mobile app stores and whether the companies abuse their power at the expense of smaller competitors.

Amy Klobuchar, the top Senate Democrat on antitrust issues, said Apple and Google can use their power to "exclude or suppress apps that compete with their own products" and "charge excessive fees that affect competition."