Apple threatened to move Will Smith movie out of Louisiana if lawmakers didn’t kill app store bill: report

Apple successfully killed proposed legislation in Louisiana that would have required the iPhone maker to allow developers who market their apps on the app store to use an alternative payment system by threatening to cancel the making of a Will Smith film in the state, according to a report.

In 2021, lawmakers in the Bayou State were keen on approving a bill that would have allowed developers of apps to use alternative payments systems which would have circumvented Apple’s app store.

Apple, which charges developers a fee to have their apps available to iPhone users for download from its app store, perceived the bill as a threat to one of its key revenue streams and intervened, according to The Wall Street Journal.

An employee of the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech colossus reportedly told Tanner Magee, a senior lawmaker in the Louisiana House of Representatives, that if he went ahead with the app store bill, Apple would pull the plug on production of the film “Emancipation,” the historical drama in which Smith plays “Whipped Peter” — the ex-slave whose scarred back was infamously photographed in 1863.

“Emancipation” was filmed in Louisiana. The Apple rep is reported to have made it known to Magee that the company would relocate the filming of the movie, which would have dealt a blow to the local economy, the Journal reported.

“He basically said that if we didn’t kill the bill, he’d kill the movie and hurt our economy,” Magee told the Journal.

An Apple spokesperson denied to the Journal that any threat was made.

“We always operate with the highest standards of integrity, and allegations that we have not in this instance are false,” the Apple spokesman told the newspaper.

The Post has sought comment from Apple.

More recently, Apple is reported to have thrown its weight around in killing another piece of proposed legislation whereby Louisiana lawmakers sought to require the company to force its smartphone users to verify their age.

Earlier this year, Kim Carver, a freshman state legislator, told the Journal that Apple lobbyists deluged him with “panicked” text messages when they learned that he would include the age verification provision in a proposed bill geared toward safeguarding children from the pitfalls of social media and tech.

Louisiana was one of the first states to attempt to force Apple to age-verify users of its devices.

Child safety advocates argued that Apple and Google — the two companies that own the market of smartphone operating systems — are best positioned to keep children safe by having them verify their ages.

Rival tech firms such as Meta — owner of Facebook and Instagram — and Match Group have supported this view — arguing that app developers shouldn’t be the ones to bear the burden alone.

“Rather than putting the onus on parents to upload sensitive information or provide proof of identity for their teen’s age for every single app their children use, app stores can provide a central place for families to do this,” a Meta spokesperson told the Journal.

A representative for Match Group, whose portfolio of companies includes Tinder and Bumble, agreed, telling the Journal: “Kids are less safe when responsibility is limited only to developers.”

According to Carver’s proposal, companies that failed to make “reasonable efforts” to verify the ages of their users would face substantial fines.

But Apple reacted furiously to the legislation, accusing Carver of including a “poison pill from Meta.”

According to Carver, Apple lobbyists inundated him with messages “all day, every day.”

“At that point, I was like, ‘OK, we’re done talking,’” Carver told the Journal.

“We had the bill pass unanimously on the house floor [without the provision that would have obligated Apple].” 

Louisiana was the first state to pass a law requiring age verification with IDs for sites that host adult content. Other states followed suit in approving similar statutes.

In May, The Post was the first to report that Google and Meta spent nearly $1 million on lobbyists who were hired to fight proposed legislation in New York that was aimed at protecting children online.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, already faces several lawsuits nationwide alleging that it exposed children to harmful content which had an adverse impact on their mental health.