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The Italian consumer association, Altroconsumo, announced on Monday that it informed iPhone maker Apple that it was launching a class action suit against the tech giant. The accusation is that the phone company has planned obsolescence of its products.

Altroconsumo said that it would seek damages amounting to about 60 million euros ($73 million) on behalf of the Italian consumers who were tricked by the practice of planned obsolescence. Other Italian authorities have recognized the issue.

This lawsuit comes on the heels of other accusations in the past, where Apple has been accused of forcing customers to buy new models of the iPhone by tampering with their older models.

Apple denies the claims

Altroconsumo said that the lawsuit specifically covers the owners of iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, and iPhone 6S Plus. The sale of these phones in Italy totaled 1 million between 2014 and 2020.

Apple sent out an email saying that it never did anything to intentionally shorten any Apple product’s life or degrade the user experience to force customers into upgrading.

As with anything involving Big Tech in Europe, other countries have followed suit and have filed lawsuits of a similar nature in Spain and Belgium.

The growing concern about Big Tech

The lawsuits have all been coordinated under the European consumers association, Euroconsumers. The association has said that it plans to launch another class-action lawsuit in Portugal in the coming weeks.

The heat on Big Tech companies continues to intensify as antitrust lawsuits and calls for regulations increase. Most of the European countries have seen changes since the introduction of the less-than-stellar GDPR rules.

However, in the coming months and years, we will see more stringent control of Big Tech by governments if they develop strong policies.

Tip: Review: Apple iPhone 12 Pro, great phone, but not that ‘pro’