by Apple’s CEO has told Elon Musk that the company “never considered” removing its social media platform from its App Store, the owner of Twitter said on Wednesday, suggesting that his own comments about a possible removal were a “misunderstanding.”
Musk tweeted that he had a “good chat” with Tim Cook during a meeting at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, where Cook showed him around. Musk on Monday had publicly made accused Apple to threaten to remove Twitter from its store.
But “Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing it,” Musk wrote after speaking with Cook.
Several Apple employees told The New York Times that they saw the two men together.
Apple did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Earlier in the week, Musk had complained about Apple’s control over his App Store, saying that the company applies a “30% secret tax” to purchases.
His tweets drew the attention of Republicans, with some condemning the tech company and calling for antitrust regulation.
“No one should have this kind of market power,” said Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee. wrote On twitter.
This isn’t the first time Apple has been criticized for its control over the App Store.
In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint against the company with European regulators “to ensure fair competition.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on Wednesday said that Apple “gives itself every advantage while stifling innovation and hurting consumers.”
In the US, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced legislation called the “Open Application Marketplaces Act” in 2021, accusing Apple and Google of having “gatekeeper control of the two dominant mobile operating systems and their app stores that allow them to exclusively dictate the terms of the app marketplace, inhibiting competition and restricting consumer choice.”
Musk also took issue this week with Apple’s advertising on Twitter, saying the company has “mostly stopped” using ads on the platform. But data from Pathmatics, a digital ad analytics company, has cast doubt on Musk’s claims, saying Apple’s ad spending on Twitter grew from October to November of this year, according to Gizmodo.
“Do you hate free speech in America?” Musk asked Monday, referring to Apple.
A Media Matters report last week said that 50 of the top 100 advertisers on Twitter have either said they will stop advertising on the platform or appear to have already done so. The list does not include Apple.
Cook has not weighed in publicly on any of Musk’s allegations.
