US lawmakers ask Dept of Justice to probe Apple for shuttering iMessage apps

Beeper Mini, the latest app to enable iMessage on Android devices, stopped working last week. Apple said it was protecting user privacy by shutting down apps that used ‘fake credentials’ to gain access to iMessage. — Bloomberg

A group of bipartisan lawmakers asked the Justice Department to probe whether Apple Inc violated antitrust laws when it shut down third-party applications enabling Android devices to use the iMessage service to communicate with iPhone users.

The lawmakers, including Democratic Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee, wrote they are “concerned that Apple’s recent actions to disable Beeper Mini harm competition, eliminate choices for consumers, and will discourage future innovation and investment in interoperable messaging services”. Klobuchar and Lee are the leaders of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee.