The Texas attorney general may sue Apple for violating the state’s deceptive trade practices law in connection with the multi-state investigation, according to the document.
The document, sent in March and first reported by Axios, states that the Consumer Protection Division of Texas’ attorney general office “is involved in a multistate investigation into Apple for potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.” It says the investigation was started “for enforcement purposes” and the office “anticipates litigation in this matter”. Other states are also involved in the investigation, which is being led by Texas.
Sadly the office of the Texas attorney general declined to comment. Apple is not saying anything either. In reality it could be anything that Apple has done to attempt to fool its customers. Smart money is on Apple's problems with aging batteries. Apple has faced class-action lawsuits from consumers alleging that it deceived them about slowing the performance of iPhones with aging batteries. The company agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle one such lawsuit earlier this year.
Another possibility is over how it knew and concealed how the “butterfly” keyboards on its MacBook laptops were prone to failure, which has also been the subject of court cases.
Apple’s lawsuits are piling up more than a crash on an Indian motorway. Only yesterday another antitrust suit against Apple was filed in Italy. That comes in addition to two recent ones in Europe, and others from Congress, the Department of Justice, France, Japan, South Korea, and Russia. That is on top of the antitrust activity it has been convicted of. Anyone would think that Apple is not the super-cool and wonderful company that loves its users you read about in the New York Times.
As part of the investigation into big tech companies by Congress, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is set to testify before the US House of Judiciary Committee on Monday, July 27. For Apple, the questioning will center around its App Store and in-app purchase practices. Apple has recently defended its 30 percent tithe to the cult in its App Store purchases.
