Elon Musk and Tim Cook held a surprise meeting last night to discuss the tension between Apple and Twitter. It appears that the issue has been resolved, and Apple will continue to advertise on Twitter. Here is a summary of what happened, as we know it…
Apple will continue to advertise on Twitter
Elon Musk and Tim Cook met at Apple’s headquarters last week. Musk first wrote on Twitter, “Thank you Tim Cook for showing me around Apple’s beautiful headquarters,” and then added, “It was a good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding that Twitter could be removed from the App Store. Tim made it clear that Apple has never considered doing that.”
Before this meeting, Musk had posted on his official Twitter account, asking, “Apple has largely stopped advertising on Twitter. Does Apple hate free speech in America?” Musk then tagged Tim Cook in the post and asked, “What’s going on here?” Musk also claimed that the company had threatened to remove platform from the App Store, without providing a reason.
In addition, Musk mentioned the 30% commission that Apple charges for purchases made through the App Store, saying, “Did you know that Apple has a hidden 30 percent tax on everything you buy through the App Store?” This was not the first time that Musk had criticized the commission.
On top of all this, Elon Musk made another announcement last night that the company has started advertising on Twitter again at full capacity. Musk also announced that some other advertisers have also started returning to Twitter. He also announced that Apple is Twitter’s largest advertiser.
When asked last week what the recent changes at Twitter meant for the relationship between Twitter and Apple and the app’s presence in the App Store, Tim Cook said, “They say they’re going to continue to police the platform, and I trust that they will, because I don’t think anyone wants hate speech on their platform.”
Overall, it seems that the misunderstanding between Apple and Twitter has been resolved, and the company will continue to advertise on the platform.
