Elon Musk says App Store fees are a ‘de facto global tax on the internet’
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is siding with Epic Games in its ongoing legal battle with Apple over the removal of the popular Fortnite title from the App Store last year, which came after Epic violated Apple’s App Store terms by implementing its own third-party payment system in an effort to evade the 30% commission Apple takes on in-app purchases.
In a Tweet on Friday, Musk said “Epic is right,” calling the App Store commission a “de facto global tax on the Internet.”
The comments follow after it was claimed that Musk had a heated exchange with Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2016 during talks about the iPhone maker acquiring Tesla Motors, during which Cook was said to have said “F— you” to Musk after he allegedly told Cook he wanted to become the new Apple CEO should the company acquire Tesla, something which Musk has strongly denied.
Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet. Epic is right.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021
Apple and Epic Games went to trial in May over the App Store dispute. A ruling in the case is yet to be determined.