U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has publicly thrown her weight behind the tech startup Beeper after the app was shut down by Apple. Warren, a proponent of stronger antitrust enforcement, took to Twitter to voice her support for Beeper, questioning why Apple would restrict a competitor, and highlighting the potential security issues faced by Android users forced to message iPhone users via SMS (or as she refers to it, the “green bubble” texts).
Warren’s tweet, which accused “Big Tech executives” of “protecting profits by squashing competitors”, came after Apple blocked Beeper from operating. The move to block Beeper was in response to the startup’s reverse engineering of the iMessage protocol, in order to enable Android users to communicate with iPhone users using Apple’s platform.
Apple’s reasoning behind its decision was related to protecting user security and privacy. The company stated that Beeper’s techniques posed risks to user security and privacy, including potential metadata exposure, as well as enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks. Apple also questioned Beeper’s ability to maintain the same end-to-end encryption offered by iMessage.
Following Apple’s action, Beeper has been working to restore its service. The startup, led by CEO Eric Migicovsky, has been posting regular updates on Twitter, promising to share “good news” soon. Migicovsky, who previously founded Pebble smartwatch, aims to revolutionize the messaging space by aggregating all users’ chat apps into a single interface through Beeper Cloud. The solution, later renamed Beeper Mini, was initially focused on bringing iMessage to Android for a subscription fee.
However, after getting off the ground, Beeper Mini was quickly shut down by Apple. The future of the app now remains uncertain as Apple has found ways to identify and block Beeper users, leaving the fate of the Beeper Mini in doubt. Warren’s vocal support for Beeper is significant as it puts the issue on the radar of legislators, indicating that Big Tech regulation could be imminent.
With this ongoing debate, the conversation regarding the competitiveness and regulation of Big Tech corporations is continuing to heat up. Beeper Mini, due to its unique offering and the controversy surrounding its shut down, has become a focal point for a broader discussion about the power and practices of Big Tech. Whether it could lead to any changes in the regulatory environment remains to be seen.
