Apple allegedly threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the iOS App Store for unspecified reasons, according to Elon Musk. The information comes after Musk claimed in a tweet that Apple had “mostly stopped advertising” on the social media site and a poll that inquired about whether Apple ought to “publish all censorship actions it has taken that have an impact on its customers.” Apple did not respond to Musk’s assertion right away.
The news comes after much more subdued indications of escalating conflict between Musk-owned Twitter and Apple. Musk called the in-app purchase fee charged by Apple’s App Store a “hidden 30% tax” online. Phil Schiller, the head of Apple’s App Store, also deleted his Twitter account after Musk took control of it, not long after Donald Trump’s account had been restored.
Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that “they say that they are going to continue to moderate” in an interview with CBS News on November 15. I rely on them to keep acting in that way. Musk, on the other hand, has promised to relax Twitter’s moderation policies and proposed a widespread unbanning of suspended accounts.
Twitter has long pushed the limits of Apple’s App Store moderation, which has succeeded in getting services like Discord, Tumblr, and others to either hide or completely ban potentially offensive content (typically adult content). In a recent editorial, former Twitter executive Yoel Roth revealed that the company has occasionally fought with Apple over content like racial slurs and the hashtag #boobs. Twitter is still one of the few major platforms to still permit adult content on its app.
If Musk’s claim is true, “withhold” could refer to either a temporary rejection of an update to the Twitter app or a more serious threat to remove Twitter from the iOS App Store, both of which would be disastrous for Twitter.
