Elon Musk called out Tim Cook on Twitter, Monday, for Apple no longer advertising on Twitter. In doing so, he brought up the App Stores fees, freedom of speech, and more.
“Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why,” Musk claimed.
He also cited a “secret 30% tax,” for apps available through the App Store.
Later he ran a poll asking users whether “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.”
In another tweet, he shared a meme of a car at a crossroads with the choices of “Pay 30%” and “Go to war.” The car veers toward going to war.
As of now, Apple’s App Store is the only way to distribute software to iPhones. If the app is pulled from the platform, Twitter will only be accessible on the device through its web service.
As for why Apple may have threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store, there are two likely explanations. Firstly, it's possible Musk has attempted to skirt paying the 30% fee for products distributed through the App Store. Secondly, Apple may be worried about Twitter's content moderation. Apple requires apps sold through its store to have strong content moderation systems in place. After taking over the company, Musk gutted the size of Twitter’s content moderation workforce. He also welcomed back several previously banned accounts.
Musk has called out Apple in the past relating to the Tesla app.
Check out Musk's recent tweets below.
[Via]