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Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk continues to heat up conflict with the Apple iPhone group. In a series of tweets on Monday, the tech billionaire first wondered if Apple hates free speech in America, since the company largely stopped advertising on Twitter after selling it the platform. He then claimed that Apple threatened to remove the Twitter app from the App Store without giving any reasons. Apple did not initially respond to the tweets.
Musk bought Twitter for an estimated $44 billion in late October and has been driving his ideas forward with the online service ever since. This includes the fact that, in his opinion, Twitter has restricted free speech too much in recent years. In recent years, Twitter has taken increasingly consistent action against hate speech, calls for violence and false claims about the corona virus. Musk also unblocked several accounts popular in the right-wing scene, which had been blocked for homophobic and racist statements, among other things.
Given the changes taking place, many large companies are reluctant to be active on Twitter – they don’t want to risk having their brands appear alongside offensive tweets. Volkswagen Group and pharmaceutical group Pfizer, among others, have stopped advertising on the platform. Apple is a particularly important advertiser for Twitter: according to financial service Bloomberg, the iPhone group spends more than 100 million dollars a year on advertising. In 2021, Twitter generated sales of a whopping five billion dollars.
Musk’s charges against Twitter’s former leadership for allegedly disregarding free speech coincide with claims by the US right that conservative views are being suppressed by online platforms. They often cite the right to free speech in the United States. However, US legal experts always emphasize that the point is that only the government should not limit the right to free speech. On the other hand, online platforms and other companies have the right to set their own rules for communication on this basis.
A conflict between Musk and Apple has been brewing for some time. Musk is a thorn in the side of the 15 to 30 percent levy owed on app platforms for subscription revenue generated within the app. He announced that Twitter will focus more on subscription revenue rather than advertising. On Monday, he again attacked a “secret 30% levy” that Apple requires for App Store purchases. In one photo, he hinted that he “wants to go to war” on the other side. As usual, after Musk’s tweets, fans of him formed on the online service, who also attacked Apple.
Twitter could circumvent the fees charged by download platforms if users signed up for subscriptions on the web rather than in the app. Streaming heavyweights Netflix and Spotify, among others, have gone this route. Game company Epic, on the other hand, has tried to get around the subscription fee with a trick. Apple launched its ‘Fortnite’ gaming app from the App Store and a court ruled it legal after an Epic lawsuit.
Musk has also tried to explain his actions with a political motive. “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is also lost in America, tyranny is all that awaits us,” he wrote in another tweet. The approval reactions came mainly from right-wing users.
According to information from the technology blog “Platformer”, Twitter would be restoring about 62,000 blocked accounts after a “general amnesty” declared by Musk. The tech billionaire had previously launched a Twitter poll in which just over 3.1 million users of the service took part and the majority supported unblocking.
