/

On The Vergecast: all your thoughts on the biggest questions in tech. Is TikTok bad, or is there more to the story? And is the iPhone really a monopoly or did Apple just win capitalism? And what are the good web apps?

By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

An illustration showing the Vergecast Hotline art.

Image: The Verge

A few weeks ago, it looked like the US government was on a fast track to banning TikTok. A committee in the House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would see the app either banned or sold, before the broader House passed the same bill in sweeping fashion, and even President Joe Biden said he’d sign the bill if it hit his desk. Then, the momentum just... stopped. The bill is in limbo and TikTok is still here, for now, while the debate rages over what should happen to the massively popular platform.

In the meantime, the government filed a landmark antitrust case against Apple, accusing it of illegal monopolistic behavior in everything from digital wallets to messaging to... super apps. It’s a broad, complex complaint, and it makes clear that there’s a lot we still don’t know — and a long road ahead for this case.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss both of these situations and, specifically, all your feedback on our coverage of them over the past few weeks. We’ve had some heated debates about what should happen to TikTok and whether the iPhone is truly a monopoly — and your thoughts and feedback are just as hot. So we spend the whole show listening to your voicemails from the Vergecast Hotline (+1 866-VERGE11, call us and say hi!), catching up on the latest in both stories and trying to figure out where things go from here.

We also once again ask you to vote for us at The Webby Awards, where The Vergecast is nominated for Best Technology Podcast. It’s not cool to want things, but we want to win so bad, and we’d be so grateful for your votes. Also, if you’re going to be in Chicago this weekend, come hang with The Verge at the Chicago Humanities Festival, where we’ll be spending an afternoon talking about the future of AI and creativity.

If you want to know more on all the subjects discussed in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on Apple’s antitrust case:

And on the TikTok ban: