Elon Musk Backtracks Over Apple Bust Up

Tom Jowitt,
Apple, app store, apple, app store

Chief twit tweets ‘misunderstanding’ about Apple potentially removing Twitter from App Store has been “resolved” after meeting Tim Cook

Elon Musk has met with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook after a series of tweets in which he publicly aired his frustration with the iPhone maker.

On Monday Musk in a series of tweets said “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?”

He then accused the company of threatening to remove the platform from its app store but did not say why Apple had made such a threat.

Image credit: Elon Musk

Apple challenge

Musk also said Apple was engaged in “censorship”, and he also began highlighting the 30 percent Apple charges for app store transactions, with Musk posting a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” with Apple rather than paying the commission.

It should be remembered that it is not just Apple pulling their advertising spend with the platform.

Elon Musk has previously revealed that Twitter has seen a “massive” drop in revenue, which he blamed on activists putting pressure on advertisers.

Musk directly asked Apple’s Tim Cook “What’s going on here.”

Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter according to the Washington Post, spending $48m on ads on Twitter in the first quarter of 2022.

It is clear that Apple’s alleged threat to pull Twitter from its App store worried Musk, who is seeking to turn the social media app into an “everything” app that includes encrypted direct messaging and payments.

Just a Misunderstanding?

Musk began his reverse by thanking Tim Cook for “taking me around Apple’s beautiful HQ.”

“Good conversation,” Musk then tweeted. “Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.”