Today, Elon Musk met Tim Cook at Apple’s campus. Earlier in the week, he had claimed that Apple was threatening to remove Twitter from the iPhone App Store, citing Apple’s so-called censorship. He also voiced concerns about Apple’s ‘secret’ 30% tax.
Post meeting, he is now tweeting a very different tune. Musk described it as a “good conversation” and said Cook made it clear that it was not the case that Apple was considering removing Twitter.
While Musk may have come out swinging just a few days ago, it seems like he is calmed down considerably. In the intervening days, Musk has deleted at least one of the tweets memeing the App Store’s 30% cut. He also complimented Apple’s headquarters as “beautiful”.
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
Despite bemoaning the App Store’s enforced 30% commission on in-app purchase, Musk launched its $8/mo Twitter Blue subscription service exclusively on iOS about a month ago. The ability to buy a verified blue tick was quickly abused with nefarious and comedic impersonations of public figures, and the program has been on pause since. It was originally scheduled to be relaunched yesterday. That date has since passed and the launch has again been pushed back.
Whatever Musk says about Twitter’s standing on the App Store, Apple has previously taken action against social media apps that do not enforce appropriate moderation.
Musk has said he plans to reduce the amount of content moderation on the platform significantly, having already reinstated accounts of controversial figures, such as former president Donald Trump. Also this week, Twitter stopped enforcing its Covid misinformation policy.
Presumably, in the talks, Musk promised Cook that an acceptable degree of moderation would remain in place on the service. For instance, Musk has previously tweeted that incitements of violence will still lead to account suspensions.
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