Elon Musk is not happy with Apple. And, in a series of tweets on Monday, Musk calls out Apple for over 30 per cent of App Store commission.
Following Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October, many companies have halted their advertisement spending on the platform. The new Twitter CEO claimed that iPhone maker Apple had ceased running advertisements on the micro-blogging platform, further questing the company if it doesn’t support free speech. Musk has said that Apple threatened to ban Twitter from its app store without providing any explanation. In another tweet, Musk said that Apple levies a ‘secret’ tax on developers who publish their apps on the App Store.
“Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?” Musk tweeted. In another tweet, Musk wrote, “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
In another tweet, Musk said that Apple levies a ‘secret’ tax on developers who publish their apps on the App Store. He wrote, “Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store?” Apple’s 30 per cent cut on apps on the App store has been long criticized by many developers and widely used apps like Spotify, hence, it is not actually a secret.
Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store? https://t.co/LGkPZ4EYcz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Earlier, Musk said that the social media network has seen a “massive” drop in revenue. In the last few weeks, several of Twitter’s 100 top advertisers have “seemingly stopped advertising on Twitter,” an analysis conducted by nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters found. Cheerios maker General Mills and Volkswagen are among the company that has stopped their ad spending in recent weeks.
Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter. In the first quarter, the tech giant spent $48 million on ads on the platform, accounting for more than 4 percent of Twitter’s revenue that quarter, as per a Washington Post report.
In one of his tweets, Musk runs a poll asking users if they think the tech giant should publish a list of all their actions contributing to censorship on various platforms. Musk also signaled in a meme, which now appears to be deleted, that he intends to “go to war” with Apple.
Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
