According to a new study from the Wall Street Journal, Apple’s iMessage, which provided free texting between iPhone users a decade ago, has discriminated against Google users and has harmed Android users’ mental health.

How Apple’s iMessage sealed its dominance with an army of texting teens. https://t.co/VW9ZA8LU3w

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 8, 2022

Since they were allowed to utilize their native messaging app on Google OS in 2016, iMessage users on iPhone have seen other iMessage users’ chat bubbles in blue, while messages from Android users have seen green. Teenagers and college students, according to the Wall Street Journal, “fear the exclusion that comes with a green text.”

What is green bubble bullying?

Usually, teens feel insecure to use Android phones in front of iPhone users due to hierarchical discrimination and Apple’s iMessage exactly does it.

iMessage discriminates Android users with green bubble while the iPhone users with blue bubble. This creates tension among teens as they feel scared of getting green bubbled among their friends.

This might look like a small issue, but it causes severe mental health problems, especially among teens.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s Senior Vice President, immediately rushed to Twitter to criticize Apple. He believes it is “unwise for a firm that claims compassion and justice as a major aspect of its marketing” to use peer pressure and bullying to sell items.

Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this. https://t.co/MiQqMUOrgn

— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) January 8, 2022

According to Android’s Twitter handle, text messaging should bring people closer together, and there is a remedy.

iMessage should not benefit from bullying. Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let’s fix this as one industry. 💚💙 https://t.co/18k8RNGQw4

— Android (@Android) January 8, 2022

Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s Senior Vice President, then addressed Apple on Twitter. He said that utilizing peer pressure and bullying to sell items is “pointless for a firm that promotes compassion and justice as a core value.”

Android’s own account rang, claiming that texting will bring us closer together and lead to a solution. When another user had green chat bubbles, individuals in his close circle replied “ugh, that’s awful,” according to surveys of some users, such as a 24-year-old master’s student from upstate New York. While the answer to this problem appears to be straightforward – simply alter the color or upload the program to the Play Store, Apple execs believe otherwise.

Their goal was to make the messaging platform industry standard, but emails from the Epic trial indicated that without monetizing the app, it would “damage Apple more than it would help.”