Apple company sued over color of text messages

When two iPhone users communicate with each other, the messages appear in a blue bubble, while those of the others appear in a green bubble. A practice deemed “anti-competitive” by the American justice system.

Blue bubble or green bubble? Because of the color of its SMS messages, the Apple company has been prosecuted since March 21 by the American courts for anti-competitive and monopolistic practices. Because according to the Department of Justice, those who write their SMS in green, “green texters” as they are called in English, are victims of social stigma.

Indeed, when two iPhone owners communicate with each other, the messages always appear in a blue bubble. While the green bubbles are reserved for others, those excluded from the Apple brand, in short Android users. However, as internal emails exchanged between Apple executives prove, this choice of differentiated colors is in no way due to chance, but is a pure marketing strategy. The goal ? Encourage consumers to buy iPhones for the chance to write in blue.

Green bubble shaming

Because, according to a phenomenon known in the United States, those who write in green provoke a reaction of rejection, even disgust, in those to whom they write. This phenomenon even has a name: “green bubble shaming”. In an article from Wall Street Journal, young people talk about how, because they write in green, they are considered old-fashioned, because they do not belong to a certain social class. Some even claim that the color of their SMS would have harmed them in their love life. Clearly, “if you want to be cool”, it is better to write in blue.

So so much the better if American justice takes up this matter, since we must continually fight against all forms of discrimination. But we can still wonder, even if green is the color of hope, into what madness has this world fallen where we fall in love with someone based on the color of their text messages.