Continue the arm wrestling between Twitter – and the arm in question is that of Elon Musk – e Apple. At the center of the controversy this time there seems to be the permanence of the application on the App Store. It would absolutely not be the first time that the two companies have bickered, although now the CEO of Tesla and Space X is in the middle.
Apple vs Twitter: What’s Going On?
In recent days Elon Musk had published some tweets in which he claimed that Apple was “threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store without telling us why”.
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Musk subsequently began targeting the App Store, posting a series of tweets complaining about the 30% commission that Apple keeps on every purchase. It is, in practice, the same dynamic that had led to the Spotify controversy.
Musk then said that Cupertino would “stop advertising on Twitter”. However, it must be said that following the numerous controversies following the acquisition of the platform, Apple wasn’t the first major advertiser to pause its ads.
Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
The historical precedents
The giant from the bitten Big Apple had already contested Twitter’s work several times, even before the acquisition of Elon Musk. In a recent New York Times editorial signed by Yoel Roth – former head of security at Twitter – it is stated that App Store reviewers had already found some criticisms regarding Twitter content.
“When I worked at Twitter, App Store representatives regularly raised concerns about content available on our platform,” Roth wrote, explaining that Apple auditors had reported cases of racial slurs and nudity on social blue.
Elon Musk’s policies add fuel to the fire
Under the management of Elon Musk these problems have certainly not disappeared, on the contrary. Just this Sunday The Guardian reported that a video escaped the moderation of the social. The clip featured footage from a 2019 terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Twitter only took action after New Zealand government officials publicly raised the issue.
More generally, there is widespread concern about theincreased hate speech contentand the recent reinstatement of previously banned accounts for similar reasons (Donald Trump e Kanye West above all) have only raised further doubts. Just last week Elon Musk also implemented a real “amnesty”, unblocking many accounts previously blocked for controversial posts.
Elon Musk
Apple has very strict rules regarding the apps allowed on its store, which is why a platform like Twitter, especially after all these controversies, may not have a happy relationship with the App Store. Just think about Talk – social platform recently bought by Kanye West and believed to be a den of far-right militants e Q supporters – which was removed from the App Store because it did not meet the minimum content moderation requirements. The app only returned to the Apple store after introducing a moderation AI. Also Tumblr it briefly said goodbye to the App Store in 2018. The app only returned after it revised its adult content policies.