Overview

• Y Combinator filed an amicus brief supporting Epic Games and urging the appeals court to deny Apple’s challenge to the enforcement order.
• The filing labels Apple’s prior 27% charge on linked-out purchases and related rules a punitive tax on innovation that discouraged developer adoption.
• In April, a judge found Apple in willful violation of a 2021 anti-steering injunction and ordered it to allow external purchase links without fees or link-format restrictions.
• Y Combinator says the enforcement order has reignited investor interest in app-based models and dismisses Apple’s 15% Small Business Program as offering only trivial, short-term savings.
• Y Combinator, an investor in Epic, notes it did not write or fund the brief, and oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled for October 21, 2025.