Apple and Elon Musk’s Twitter are in the process of colliding

Elon Musk has announced big, albeit confusing, plans for Twitter since he took over the social network last month.

Musk wants to drastically increase revenue for the company done through registration and expanded the site to more “freedom of speech,” which in some cases appeared to mean the reinstatement of previously banned accounts such as those owned by former president Donald Trump.

But Musk’s plans for Twitter could put it in conflict with two of the biggest tech companies: Apple and Google.

One of the biggest risks to Musk’s vision of “Twitter 2.0” is the possibility that his changes violate Apple or by Google apply the rule in a way that slows the company down or even makes its software launch from the app stores.

Stress has been incubated. Musk complained in a tweet last week about the app store fees Google and Apple charge companies like Twitter.

“App store fees are clearly too high due to iOS/Android exclusivity,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “It’s a hidden tax of 30% on the Internet.” In a follow-up post, he tagged the Justice Department’s antitrust division, allegedly investigate app store rules.

His complaint is that Apple and Google take 15% to 30% cuts from purchases made inside apps, which could eat into much-needed revenue from Musk’s plans for the price. $8 per month from Twitter Blue subscriptions.

Over the weekend, Phil Schiller, a former Apple marketing executive who still oversees the App Store, apparently deleted his widely followed Twitter account with hundreds of thousands of followers.

There are signs that Twitter has seen an increase in harmful content since Musk took over, putting the company’s apps at risk. In October, shortly after Musk became “head of Twit,” a wave of online trolls and bigots flooded the site with hate speech and racism.

The trolls organized on 4chan, then attacked Twitter with anti-black and anti-Semitic symbols. Twitter has suspended many accounts, according to Non-profit Network Infection Research Institute.

Musk’s plan to offer blue paid verification badges also led to chaos and accounts impersonating corporations and major figures, driving some advertisers away from the social network, especially Eli Lilly after a fake verified tweet falsely stated that insulin would provided free of charge.

The app store noticed.

“And when I left the company, the calls from the app review teams started,” said former Twitter safety and trust chief Yoel Roth wrote this month in the New York Times.

Twitter and Apple have been partners for many years. In 2011, Apple deeply integrated tweets into Its iOS operating system. Tweets that act as official company communications are regularly posted under Apple CEO Tim Cook’s account. Apple advertised the new iPhone and its major launch events on Twitter.

But the relationship seems poised to change as Musk moves to generate most of his income from subscriptions.

Twitter reported $5.08 billion in revenue in 2021. If half of that comes from future subscriptions, as Musk did say targethundreds of millions of dollars will eventually go to Apple and Google — a small amount for them, but a big boost for Twitter.

One of Apple’s main rules is that digital content — game coins or avatar costumes or paid subscriptions — purchased inside an iPhone app must use Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism. Apple, where Apple bills users directly. Apple takes 30% of the revenue, drops it to 15% after a year on subscriptions, and pays the rest to the developer.

Companies like Epic Games, Spotifyand match group lobbied against Apple and Google’s rules as part of the Coalition for Fairness of Apps. Microsoft and meta also file briefs in court criticize the system and implement public comment aimed at app stores.

One option for Musk is to take an approach similar to what Spotify did: Offer a lower price of $9.99 on the web, where it pays Apple no cut, and then people Users just need to log in to their existing account inside the app. Users who subscribe to the Premium plan inside the iPhone app pay $12.99, effectively covering Apple’s fees.

Or Twitter could go further, like Netflix, which stopped offering subscription services through Apple altogether in 2018.

Musk could sell Twitter Blue on the company’s website for less, and tweet to his more than 118 million followers that Blue is only available on Twitter.com. It might work and could help Apple cut any fees.

But it also means Twitter will have to remove many of the options to notify users about subscriptions inside the app, where they’re most likely to make a purchasing decision. And Apple has detailed rules about what apps to link to when notifying users of alternative payment options.

As the Netflix app says, “You can’t sign up for Netflix in the app. We know that’s a hassle.”

It happened before. Apple say in a letter to Congress last year that it removed more than 30,000 apps from its store for objectionable content in 2020.

If app store-related issues hit Twitter, it could be “catastrophic,” according to Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety. He noted that Twitter listed app review as a risk factor in its filing with the SEC.

Apple and Google can remove an app for a variety of reasons, such as issues with the app’s security and whether it complies with the platform’s billing rules. And app reviews can delay release schedules and wreak havoc whenever Musk wants to roll out new features.

Over the past few years, app stores have begun to take a closer look at user-generated content that has begun to turn into violent speech or a social network that lacks content moderation.

There is precedent for an outright ban. Apple and Google banned Parler, a much smaller and conservatively inclined website, in 2020 after posts on the site cheered the US Capitol riots on January 6 and included the words: call for violence. In the case of Apple, the decision to ban popular apps was made by a group called the Executive Review Board, headed by Schiller – Apple’s chief executive officer, who deleted his Twitter account on March 6. weekend.

Although Apple approved Truth Social, Trump’s social networking app, in February, Google Play took longer to approve it. The company told CNBC in August that the social network lacked an “effective system for moderating user-generated content” and therefore violated Google’s Play Store terms of service. Google finally approved the app in October, saying apps should “delete offensive posts, such as those that incite violence.”

musk fired many people moderated Twitter’s contact content this month.

Apple and Google have been careful to ban apps like Parler, pointing to specific infractions like screenshots of offending posts, rather than citing general political reasons or pressure from others. lawmakers. On a major social network like Twitter, you can often find content that hasn’t been flagged.

However, Apple and Google don’t seem to want to enter an uphill battle over what constitutes harmful information and what does not. That could eventually lead to public scrutiny and political debate. Maybe the app stores just delayed approving new versions instead of threatening to remove the app completely.

Future features could also annoy Apple and Google and cause them to take a closer look at the platform’s current operations.

According to the report, Musk has been talking about allowing users to pay for user-generated videos – something former employees think will lead to the feature being used for adult content, according to the report. washington articles.

Apple’s App Store has never allowed pornography, a policy dating back to the company’s founder, Steve Jobs, and Google also bans apps that revolve around pornography.

Anything that is not safe for work should be hidden by default. Twitter now allows adult content, which could put it more directly in the sights of reviewers.

“Apps with user-generated content or services that are ultimately used primarily for pornography… do not belong to the App Store and may be removed without notice,” Apple’s guidelines said. said.

But Musk is often aiming for battles, not running away from them. Now he has to decide if it’s worth going up against two of the most valuable and powerful companies in Silicon Valley for their 30% fee and Twitter’s ability to host edgy tweets. .

An Apple representative did not respond to a request for comment. A Google representative declined to comment. Twitter has not responded to emails and the company no longer has a communications department. Musk did not respond to a tweet.