Elon Musk says ‘Apple has threatened to withhold Twitter’ from the App Store
After claiming that Apple has “mostly stopped” its Twitter ads spend and asking if the iPhone maker hates “free speech”, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said that Apple has “threatened to withhold Twitter” from the App Store following his take-over, which has seen multiple controversial changes to the platform, including the unbanning of high-profile accounts that had previously violated Twitter’s terms.
Despite saying that Apple hasn’t provided any explanation as to why Twitter could be pulled from the App Store, the threat is likely in retaliation to Musk’s plan to loosen content mediation rules, which would go against App Store policies.
One hour before disclosing the App Store threat, Musk said Apple has “mostly stopped” its Twitter ads spend, which reportedly accounted for $48 million in Q1 2022, making Apple the top advertiser on Twitter that quarter according to The Washington Post.
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Since taking over Twitter, the social network has gone through fairly turbulent times, including mass staff layoffs, a push to move users to the service’s pay-monthly subscription service, and the ability for any user to show a blue verification badge on their profile, without any authentication checks prior.
Apple has been contacted for comment.