The Department of Justice (DOJ) is calling out Apple in an antitrust case over “green bubble” text messages, saying the company creates “social stigma, exclusion and blame” for Android users.
“Many non-iPhone users also experience social stigma, exclusion, and blame for ‘breaking’ chats where other participants own iPhones,” the lawsuit claims. The DOJ claims this has an impact on certain demographics, including teens.
16 state attorney generals and the DOJ filed the lawsuit in New Jersey federal court.
“This social pressure reinforces switching costs and drives users to continue buying iPhones—solidifying Apple’s smartphone dominance not because Apple has made its smartphone better, but because it has made communicating with other smartphones worse,” the DOJ stated.
Complaints go beyond the different colors of the text messages. There are notable differences between iPhones and Androids that “incorporates limited functionality,” according to the DOJ. The lawsuit claimed Android users experience poor video quality, can’t see the typing indicators and have non-encrypted messages when texting those with iPhones.
Issues arise between iPhone and Android users in both individual and group chats, the lawsuit alleges. One issue mentioned is how the reactions to text messages, such as “thumbs up,” are written out instead of displayed with icons. Other issues include trouble sending large files and not being able to edit text messages, the lawsuit reads.
“This signals to users that rival smartphones are lower quality because the experience of messaging friends and family who do not own iPhones is worse—even though Apple, not the rival smartphone, is the cause of that degraded user experience,” the lawsuit stated. (RELATED: Video Shows Thief Pocketing Dozens Of iPhones In Broad Daylight).
DOJ slams Apple over ‘green bubble’ Android texts, claiming they fuel ‘social stigma’ in landmark antitrust suit https://t.co/J19EcM7eES pic.twitter.com/SZ3GiTC5y9
— New York Post (@nypost) March 22, 2024
The DOJ referenced an exchange during the 2022 Vox Media’s Code Conference where an attendee asked Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, if the company would fix texting between the two devices because the attendee couldn’t “send my mom certain videos.” Cook replied, “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
There have been mixed reviews following the announcement of the lawsuit on Twitter.
“If they allow iMessage on Android, then how will we tell who’s a loser?” podcaster Josh Barro wrote on Twitter.
“Those of us with mixed family group chats would love to see equality among blue and green bubbles,” one user wrote.
“I’m laughing at this because our sons give my husband so much grief about how annoying his ‘green bubbles’ are in our fam group texts,” another user said.