Apple’s Shameless Exploit Of Louisiana And Will Smith

Apple Inc. has come under fire, as reports indicate the company meddled with a Louisiana law that may have hurt its profit margins.

In 2021 Apple's subsidiary Apple Studios LLC was filming the movie Emancipation, starring Will Smith, in New Orleans after moving the filming location from Georgia due to the Election Integrity Act of 2021, a controversial act that tightened voting regulations in the state.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal alleges that the massive tech company threatened to end filming in the state if a bill would be passed. In 2021 Louisiana's lawmakers were working to sign a bill that would force Apple and other mobile phone companies to allow payment methods outside their proprietary payment services, I.E. Apple's App Store.

Former Louisiana State Representative Tanner Magee was reportedly told by an Apple employee that if the bill were passed in the state Apple would simply pull the cord on production of Emancipation.

"He basically said that if we didn't kill the bill, he'd kill the movie and hurt our economy" - Former Rep. Magee to The Wall Street Journal

A request for comment from The Wall Street Journal was met with denial from an Apple Spokesperson.

The bill was not the only one under fire from Apple as an online child safety act was being floated around the same time, which would've forced Apple to enforce age restrictions on the app store, to which Louisiana State Representative Kim Carver claims the calls from Apple's lobbyists were "all day, every day. At that point, I was like, 'OK, we're done talking.'"