Elon Musk: Apple threatened to yank Twitter from App Store
贰濒辞苍听惭耻蝉办听accused听础辫辫濒别听Inc.聽of threatening to block听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听Inc.听蹿谤辞尘听its听补辫辫听蝉迟辞谤别听without saying why in a series of tweets on Monday that also said the iPhone maker had stopped advertising on the social media platform.
The billionaire CEO of听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听and Tesla said听础辫辫濒别听was pressuring听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听over content moderation demands.
The action, unconfirmed by听础辫辫濒别, would not be unusual as the company has routinely enforced its rules and previously removed听补辫辫s such as Gab and Parler.
Parler, which is popular with US conservatives, was restored by听础辫辫濒别听in 2021 after the听补辫辫听updated its content and moderation practices, the companies said at the time.
“础辫辫濒别听has mostly stopped advertising on听罢飞颈迟迟别谤. Do they hate free speech in America?,” Mr. Musk, who took听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听private for $44 billion last month, said in a tweet.
He later tagged听础辫辫濒别听Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听account in another聽, asking “what’s going on here?”
础辫辫濒别听did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“It wasn’t clear to me how far up the听础辫辫濒别听food chain that idea went internally and without knowing that, it isn’t clear how seriously to take any of this,” said Randal Picker, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
The world’s most valuable firm spent an estimated $131,600 on听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听ads between Nov. 10 and Nov. 16, down听蹿谤辞尘听$220,800 between Oct. 16 and Oct. 22, the week before聽惭耻蝉办听closed the听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听deal, according to ad measurement firm Pathmatics.
In the first quarter of 2022,听础辫辫濒别听was the top advertiser on听罢飞颈迟迟别谤, spending $48 million and accounting for more than 4% of total revenue for the period, the Washington Post聽reported, citing an internal听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听document.
罢飞颈迟迟别谤听did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
‘GO TO WAR’
Among the list of grievances tweeted by Mr. Musk was the up to 30% fee听础辫辫濒别听charges software developers for in-补辫辫听purchases, with聽惭耻蝉办听posting a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” with听础辫辫濒别听rather than paying the commission.
The fee has drawn criticism and lawsuits听蹿谤辞尘听companies such as Epic Games, the maker of ‘Fortnite’, while attracting the scrutiny of regulators globally.
The commission could weigh on Mr. Musk‘s attempts to boost subscription revenue at听罢飞颈迟迟别谤, in part to make up for the exodus of advertisers over content moderation concerns.
Companies听蹿谤辞尘听General Mills Inc.聽to luxury automaker Audi of America have stopped or paused advertising on听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听since the acquisition, and Mr. Musk 聽earlier this month that the company had seen a “massive” drop in revenue.
Ad sales account for about 90% of听罢飞颈迟迟别谤‘s revenue.
The self-described free speech absolutist, whose company has in the past few days reinstated several听罢飞颈迟迟别谤听accounts including that of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has blamed activist groups for pressuring advertisers.
Ben Bajarin, the head of consumer technologies at research firm Creative Strategies, said that聽惭耻蝉办听may be reading too much into a regular process听础辫辫濒别听goes through in听补辫辫听review.
“础辫辫听review听蹿谤辞尘听础辫辫濒别听is not perfect by any means and a consistently frustrating process for developers but听蹿谤辞尘听what I hear it is a two-way conversation,” he said. – Reuters
