Is Apple Withholding Twitter from App Store? Elon Musk Claims So

| Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2022, 14:55 [IST]

Elon Musk has been in the limelight a lot lately, even more since the acquisition of Twitter. Now, Elon Musk has claimed that Apple is threatening him to withhold Twitter from the App Store. It looks like the iPhone maker isn't happy with Musk's new set of rules and content moderation on Twitter.

Musk further claims that Apple has paused all advertising on the platform. What's more, Apple VP Phil Schiller deleted his Twitter account recently. Incidentally, Schiller also runs the Apple App Store.

Will Twitter Be Removed From App Store?

"Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won't tell us why," Elon Musk tweeted. Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter, things have been quite different. This includes paid subscriptions, paid blue tick verification, and more.

Elon Musk has been routing Twitter as a revenue-building platform than a free platform for everyone to use. "New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won't find tweets unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of the internet," he further explained.

Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Contradictorily, reports also suggest that the amount of hate speech and fake news has surged since the takeover. This has also been linked to the massive layoffs in Twitter, with nearly 70 percent of the staff removed. But nothing has been confirmed yet.

On the other hand, the rising amount of revenue from Twitter would have an impact on Google Play Store and Apple App Store - the required platforms to download the Twitter app. If users subscribe to Twitter's paid plans via Google Play and App Store, it would incur a 30 percent commission in the first year. It would then require a 15 percent commission in the following years. Naturally, Elon Musk isn't very thrilled about sharing revenue with other platforms!

Elon Musk took things a step further and claimed to develop his smartphone to challenge the dominance of iOS and Android. If Apple were to stop updates to Twitter via the App Store, Musk would find it quite difficult to deliver the services or subscription rates he plans. It remains to be seen what happens next.