The U.S. Department of Justice has contacted app developers in order to investigate Apple’s App Store practices, Reuters reported Tuesday. The U.S. is conducting an antitrust probe to determine whether big tech companies such as Apple and Amazon have too much power in the market.

Suren Ramasubbu, a chief developer of the Mobicip parental control app, told the news agency that he was interviewed by a government investigator in November. Ramasubbu was questioned about the app developer’s interactions with Apple.

Ramasubbu told investigators that Apple removed the Mobicip app off the App Store at the beginning of 2019 because it supposedly failed to meet standards set by the company.

Apple has refused to comment on the issue but routinely deletes apps off its online store for various reasons.

“Since 2016, we have removed over 1.4 million apps from the App Store because they have not been updated or don’t work on our most current operating systems,” a statement says on Apple’s website. The company says it holds apps “to a high standard for privacy, security and content.”

Critics argue that Apple pushes off apps on its store that compete with its own products. Apple has released its own parental control app and may be trying to eliminate its competition.

An investigation published by the Wall Street Journal in July claims that less popular Apple apps are favored over better-reviewed third-party software in search results on the iOS App store.

Apple denies manipulating its search result rankings.

In May, Apple launched a new App Store website to better defend itself against antitrust and anticompetitive allegations.

The Justice Department launched its antitrust probe into big tech in July, with the House Judiciary Committee also conducting an investigation on the issue.

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