Elon Musk is ready to go toe-to-toe with Apple. In a series of tweets Monday, Musk stated that Apple threatened to remove Twitter from its app store. Musk then published a poll asking users if Apple should publish all censorship actions it takes that affect customers.
According to The New York Post, the action of removing a social media app from the store would not be unprecedented. Apple removed Gab and Parler in 2021 before eventually restoring Parler last year.
“Did you know that Apple puts a 30% tax on everything you buy through their app store?” Musk said. “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?”
Apple reportedly spent an estimated $131,600 on Twitter ads between Nov. 10 and Nov. 16, down from $220,800 between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, the week before Musk closed the Twitter deal.
The paper reported that in the first quarter of 2022, Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, spending $48 million and accounting for more than 4% of total revenue for the period, the Washington Post reported, citing an internal Twitter document.
Musk also posted a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” with Apple rather than paying the commission.
