Man Sues Apple After Wife Discovers Deleted Messages With Sexworker
An English businessman is suing Apple after his wife discovered “deleted” messages he had sent to sexworkers on their family iMac. These messages, which he believed were permanently erased from his iPhone, led to his wife filing for divorce, according to The Times.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, had used iMessage to communicate with sex workers and thought he had deleted the evidence from his iPhone. However, due to device synchronization via the same Apple ID, the messages remained accessible on the iMac.
He argued that Apple failed to inform users that deleting a message on one device does not remove it from all linked devices. “If you are told a message is deleted, you are entitled to believe it’s deleted,” he told The Times.
The man’s wife found the messages and subsequently filed for divorce, which has cost him over 5 million pounds. He described the divorce as “painful and raw,” believing that a more rational discussion could have saved his marriage if the messages hadn’t been discovered in such a harsh manner.
He is now suing Apple for 5 million pounds and aims to turn his lawsuit into a class-action suit for others who might have faced similar situations.
His lawyer, Simon Walton stated that iPhones often inform users that “messages have been deleted,” which he claims is misleading because the messages can still be found on other linked devices—something he says Apple doesn’t adequately inform its users about.
