Elon Musk confirms Apple threatens to remove Twitter from App Store

Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Monday that Apple has “threatened” to remove Twitter from the App Store. Safe to say that Apple is unhappy with the current state of the social media platform.

In addition, Musk also said that the tech giant halted almost all of its advertisements on Twitter.  “Do they hate free speech in America?” He said this in reference to his goals for a free speech platform. But Musk didn’t stop there.

Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

The Twitter CEO also said in a follow-up tweet, “What’s going on here (Apple CEO Tim Cook)?” Musk also scrutinized Apple’s censorship and called out the 30% transaction fee Apple charges for huge apps to be listed in its App store.

Moreover, Apple VP Phil Schiller, who manages the App Store, recently deactivated his Twitter account. This Musk-Apple feud is rooted in Musk’s attempts to change Twitter as a platform that produces significant revenue. This means Twitter’s transactions with App Store or Google Play would earn the first-year commission of 30%. 

What’s going on here @tim_cook?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Elon Musk didn’t like it and also Apple’s content moderation rules. He even said he might consider making his phone to avoid the Android-iOS duopoly in the mobile world.

Moreover, if Apple removes Twitter from the App Store, it would majorly affect Twitter’s business. It is already struggling now with the massive number of employee resignations and loss of advertisers. 

Twitter’s removal from App Store

However, Apple, true to its word, might soon pull out Twitter. It has proven before that it’s ready to remove apps from the App store. Especially when it concerns their content moderation. In 2021, Apple pulled out Parler from its App Store after the US Capitol attack. Parler was able to return to the App Store when they revised their content moderation policies.

Who else has Apple censored? https://t.co/lZculFIkAX

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

In addition, Musk didn’t use the term remove but instead,  ‘withhold.’ If Twitter was withheld from the App Store, this could mean that the social media platform might be encountering difficulties when updating its app. It should pass an App Store review as part of app submission guidelines. 

Similar to Spotify, which has a recent update offering various ways for customers to purchase audiobooks, Apple refused its approval three times. Meta’s Facebook also had issues updating its gamin app this past few years.

If a developer or company isn’t able to update its app on Google Play or App Store, it can’t deliver the services it offers to its customers. Musk retweeted a post, “Apple should be more transparent about their processes and probably not have such a monopoly.”

In a recent interview with CBS, Apple’s Tim Cook answered a question. The interviewer asked him what Twitter might change that could lead to its removal from the App Store. Tim Cook replied, “They say that they’re going to continue to moderate, so I count on them to do that. Because I don’t think that anybody really wants hate speech on their platform. So I’m counting on them to continue to do that.”

Accurate https://t.co/1PRfh67nWX

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Meanwhile, Twitter isn’t the only company facing its battle with Apple. Fortnite maker Epic Software is still up with its legal action against Apple. Epic Software aimed to sell digital items to its users without paying the 30% Apple tax. But the latter refused and removed them from the App Store. The lawsuit has been ongoing for years now.

If the wealthiest person on Earth and Twitter owner join the battle against Apple, it could change Apple’s policies. In addition, the European Union might also join their fight. Currently, Apple’s Twitter account has zero tweets, zero followers, and zero following.