Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, accuses Apple of threatening to take down his social media network.
Los Angeles: Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, blasted Apple on Monday for its strict restrictions on what may be seen in the App Store, alleging that the iPhone manufacturer has threatened to remove his recently bought social media platform.
Musk also joined the chorus of critics who are outraged by the 30% fee that Apple charges on purchases made through its App Store, which is the only route for software to reach its billion-plus mobile devices.
Musk posted a series of tweets, one of which featured a meme showing a car with his first name on it turning into the “Go to War” highway exit rather than the one leading to the “Pay 30%” exit.
Apple “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why,” the billionaire CEO added in a tweet.
An AFP inquiry for comment received no immediate response from Apple.
Both Apple and Google demand that social networking apps on their app stores have efficient processes in place for policing offensive or harmful content.
However, since assuming control of Twitter last month, Musk has eliminated around half of the company’s employment, including several workers responsible for battling misinformation, while an undetermined number of others have resigned voluntarily.
Additionally, he has allowed accounts that had been previously blocked, including Donald Trump’s.
Failure to follow Apple’s and Google’s criteria would be devastating, according to Yoel Roth, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter who departed when Musk took over, and might result in “expulsion from their app stores,” according to his opinion piece in the New York Times.
Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” said on Monday that his actions were part of a “revolution against internet censorship in America.” He believes that all speech protected by the law should be permitted on Twitter.
Additionally, he tweeted that he would reveal “Twitter Files on free speech suppression,” although he didn’t specify what information he intended to make available to the general public.
