Lawmakers Push DOJ To Investigate Apple Following Beeper Shutdowns

Following a tumultuous few weeks for Beeper, which has been trying to provide an iMessage-compatible Android app, a group of US lawmakers are pushing for the DOJ to investigate Apple for 'potentially anticompetitive conduct' over its attempts to disable Beeper's services. From a report: Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) as well as Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Ken Buck (R-CO) said in a letter to the DOJ that Beeper's Android messaging app, Beeper Mini, was a threat to Apple's leverage by 'creating [a] more competitive mobile applications market, which in turn [creates] a more competitive mobile device market.'

In an interview with CBS News on Monday, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky and 16-year-old developer James Gill talked about the fight to keep Beeper Mini alive. Migicovsky told CBS News that Beeper is trying to provide a service people want and reiterated his belief that Apple has a monopoly over its iMessage service. The company created Beeper Mini after being contacted by Gill, who said he reverse-engineered the software by 'poking at it' using a 'real Mac and a real iPhone.' The lawmakers' letter also pointed to a Department of Commerce report calling Apple a 'gatekeeper,' mirroring language used in the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) that went into force earlier this year, regulating the 'core' services of several tech platforms (though, notably, iMessage may not be included in this). They went on to cite Migicovsky's December 2021 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony that 'the dominant messaging services would use their position to impose barriers to interoperability' and keep companies like Beeper from offering certain services. 'Given Apple's recent actions, that concern appears prescient,' they added.

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