Twitter CEO Elon Musk backpedaled on his remark that Apple was aiming to remove his social network from its App Store, calling it a “misunderstanding.”
According to a video posted by Musk Wednesday afternoon, the billionaire was given a tour of Apple’s headquarters by company CEO Tim Cook. Musk thanked the tech mogul for showing him the “beautiful HQ.”
In a following tweet, Musk said the two shared “good conversation” during his visit.
“Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store,” Musk posted. “Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.”
Good conversation. 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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2022
On Monday, Musk posted that Apple had “mostly stopped” advertising on Twitter. Several other companies have completely pulled their ads from the platform since Musk acquired the social media giant last month.
“Do they hate free speech in America?” Musk tweeted, calling out Cook in a following post, “What’s going on here @tim_cook?”
Musk went on to say that Apple had “also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
Cook never publicly acknowledged Musk’s complaints, and it is unclear if Apple has started to pull its advertising from the platform. According to a report from The Washington Post, Apple was Twitter’s top advertiser in the first quarter, spending $48 million, accounting for more than 4 percent of Twitter’s total quarterly revenue.
Musk’s complaint on Monday was backed by several GOP leaders this week, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who said that Apple removing Twitter from its App Store would warrant a congressional response, Forbes reported.
Utah Senator Mike Lee also used Musk’s claim to vouch for the Open App Markets Act on Monday, bipartisan legislation aiming to improve competition by giving app developers more power over distributing their apps with Apple and Google‘s stores. More specifically, the bill places restrictions on the in-app payment systems that Apple and Google have for developers to distribute their apps on their platforms.
Other business leaders have also complained about Apple’s in-app payments, which demand a 30 percent fee on all in-app purchases. According to Reuters, the company said the fees are “used to protect consumers in areas such as fraud and privacy.”
On Wednesday, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek posted a long series of tweets saying that Apple acts in “self interest,” and that it “gives itself every advantage while at the same time stifling innovation and hurting consumers.” Ek also tagged Musk and several other business leaders in his thread.
Reuters reports that Spotify has filed multiple antitrust complaints against Apple in several countries in the past.
“So how much longer will we look away from this threat to the future of the internet?” Ek wrote in his 21-tweet thread, tagging the accounts of the U.S. Commerce Department and the European Commission. “How many more consumers will be denied choice?”
Newsweek has reached out to Apple for comment.
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