After decimating Twitter’s workforce, imperiling its infrastructure and emptying its ad coffers all inside his first month on the firm, it’s on to the subsequent factor for Elon Musk.
The erratic billionaire picked a combat with Apple in a sequence of tweets on Monday, bracing for a battle — or maybe simply one other volley of tweets — that might comfortably place the perpetually aggrieved Twitter proprietor because the David to Apple’s Goliath.
Musk is now claiming that Apple threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the App Retailer, implying that the iPhone maker would possibly take motion towards the social app over adjustments beneath its new possession with out providing any proof. has reached out to Apple for clarification, however for now we don’t know if Apple actually contacted Twitter over content material moderation issues or one thing else solely.
Twitter’s new proprietor additionally claims that Apple has pulled most of its promoting on the platform, which appears doable and even possible contemplating what number of different main advert patrons have performed the identical since Musk’s takeover, citing issues about model security and content material moderation adjustments.
No matter is de facto occurring right here, a number of issues are true. For one, Twitter wants to remain within the App Retailer and to take action it must clear Apple’s low bar for content material moderation, which Reality Social and Parler — apps with far much less mature algorithmic content material moderation methods — have managed to do. Even with Musk’s threatened coverage adjustments and his deep cuts to moderation groups, Twitter would possible nonetheless stay on Apple’s good facet if these apps pulled it off.
It’s additionally true that Apple’s guidelines for what will get an app get kicked out of the App Retailer are imprecise and arbitrarily enforced. Apple warns against “content material that’s offensive, insensitive, upsetting, supposed to disgust, in exceptionally poor style, or simply plain creepy,” which would appear to rule out a variety of social apps, pre-Musk Twitter included, if it actually got here right down to it.
On the similar time that Musk is portraying Apple as a censor, he’s additionally railing towards the charges the corporate costs apps that function in its ecosystem. Musk calls this a “secret 30% tax” however in actuality Apple’s reduce is well-documented and far mentioned. Epic Video games and Apple went to courtroom over Apple’s charges in 2020, with Epic arguing that the iPhone maker wields monopoly energy within the software program market.
Whether or not intentional or not, Musk reigniting the App Retailer antitrust battle is well timed. Epic’s ongoing combat with Apple is kicking off again in appeals court and Congress could possibly be poised for another push to move the Open Markets Act, a bipartisan invoice that might crack open the App Retailer and “tear down coercive anticompetitive partitions within the app economic system,” in line with its sponsors.
It’s additionally doable that Apple truly has cautioned Musk that reinstating thousands of accounts banned for stuff like hate speech and harassment would possibly nudge the app afoul of the App Retailer’s truly fairly lenient content material moderation necessities. In that case, Musk might place himself as a high-profile champion of the anti-Apple crowd, becoming a member of Epic’s complete factor and making good with regulators who’re rightfully involved over Musk’s Twitter plans (or lack thereof).
However even then, Twitter wants Apple in each the short- and long-term and Apple definitely doesn’t want Twitter. And preventing on yet one more entrance would stretch Musk’s consideration much more when he ought to most likely be centered on the fundamentals, like operating his myriad different firms or, say, not bankrupting Twitter. You may be mad that Apple takes 30% of what you make on the iPhone, however 30% of zero continues to be zero.
On the finish of the day, Musk, the world’s richest man and maker of luxurious automobiles and spaceships, usually appears to get pleasure from portraying himself as a scrappy upstart preventing towards bigger powers that be. If Musk desires to re-create that dynamic at Twitter, Apple is arguably one of many solely entities that may nonetheless make the vastly influential social media firm appear like the little man. Musk may be the Twitter boss now, however he is aware of that turning everybody towards the massive boss is an efficient technique to preserve the approval of the miscellaneous web devotees who affirm his current beliefs and vote in his deeply unscientific tweet polls, so possibly it’s nearly that.
No matter impressed his anti-Apple tirade, waging a conflict on Apple might be a dropping combat. However it’s a recent battle that diverts consideration from Musk’s embarrassing and seemingly countless parade of catastrophes as he fumbles Twitter’s coverage, personnel and product alike, presumably operating one of many world’s greatest social networks into the bottom within the course of.
