A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Apple’s actions in cutting off Beeper Mini’s messaging application. The move comes after U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and others accused Apple of engaging in anticompetitive behavior by blocking the app that brought iMessage to Android users.
Key Takeaway
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has called for a Department of Justice investigation into Apple’s actions regarding Beeper Mini, citing concerns about potential anticompetitive behavior.
Lawmakers’ Concerns
The lawmakers, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Mike Lee, Representative Jerry Nadler, and Representative Ken Buck, expressed concerns about Apple’s potential anticompetitive treatment of Beeper Mini. They highlighted the importance of interoperability and interconnections in driving competition and consumer choice in communications services.
Background
Beeper Mini, developed by startup Beeper, aimed to bring support for blue bubble iMessage chats to Android users. However, Apple’s actions led to a series of battles between Beeper and the tech giant. This included Apple cutting off Beeper’s ability to reliably deliver messages and deliberately blocking messages for a percentage of Beeper’s users.
Apple’s Response
Apple argued that Beeper’s techniques posed risks to user security and privacy, leading to its actions to protect its users. Beeper’s founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, challenged Apple to agree on an independent third-party security audit of Beeper’s app to prove its maintenance of end-to-end encryption, but Apple has not taken up this offer.
