Elon Musk says Apple threatened to withhold Twitter from iOS App Store
In a new turn of events, Elon Musk has launched an attack on Apple through several tweets, one of which said that Apple threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the App Store. Musk tweeted that Apple did not say why it would do so. But this was not a random tweet by Musk. Before this tweet, […]
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In a new turn of events, Elon Musk has launched an attack on Apple through several tweets, one of which said that Apple threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the App Store. Musk tweeted that Apple did not say why it would do so. But this was not a random tweet by Musk. Before this tweet, he had posted that Apple had stopped advertising on Twitter because it hated free speech, and later ran a poll asking his followers whether Apple should publish its “censorship actions that affected its customers.”
While Apple and its chief Tim Cook have so far stayed silent on the matter, Musk has posted tweet after tweet trying to get Apple’s attention. He lambasted Apple for charging the 30 percent App Store commission, calling it a “hidden 30% tax” on the internet. Before Musk, a good number of developers decried Apple’s App Store fee cut, but the issue never really died because Apple did not make any changes to its policy for established developers. Musk has reignited the debate, knowing he might just get good support, just so Apple pays attention to his demands. Apple’s App Store Phil Schiller had already deleted his Twitter account right after Musk reinstated former US President Donald Trump’s account.
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Musk’s latest attack, however, challenges a company that is crucial to Twitter’s growth. Musk is calling out Apple for suspending its advertising business because the iPhone maker was one of the top advertisers on Twitter, spending well above $100 million annually, per a Bloomberg report. Apple also had a dedicated team of employees to maintain the relationship with Twitter for the advertising business. But this is just one of the two issues that Musk’s Twitter may be facing.
For Twitter’s subscription service, Blue, Apple’s App Store is an important medium. If what Musk has claimed holds any water, Twitter may be at risk of losing its access to the iPhone since an app cannot work on it without the App Store’s clearance. “Withhold” could mean Apple may temporarily reject an update to the Twitter app on iOS or a serious move where the iPhone maker could remove Twitter’s app from the App Store. If the tension between Musk and Apple boils down to an unexpected climax, the latter could cut Twitter’s access to more than 1.5 billion devices around the world.
The post Elon Musk says Apple threatened to withhold Twitter from iOS App Store appeared first on BGR India.