Elon Musk is ratcheting up the rhetoric against Apple after accusing the tech giant of hating free speech, tweeting that “this is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead”.
The claim follows the new Twitter owner’s accusation that Apple is threatening to remove the social media site from its App Store without giving a reason.
Musk also insists the iPhone maker has stopped advertising on Twitter, prompting him to ask if the tech group hated free speech. He tweeted: “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.” He then tagged Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, asking “what’s going on here”.
And, when quizzed by a journalist user if Apple was “threatening Twitter’s presence in the App Store or otherwise making moderation demands”, Musk replied “yes”.
Apple has so far declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, who quit following Musk’s $44bn (£36.8bn) takeover, warned of a “catastrophic” expulsion from the Apple and Google app stores.
Yoel Roth wrote in the New York Times that any ejection from those app stores would make it “difficult for billions of potential users to get Twitter’s services”. Apple’s app guidelines state the company will reject apps “for any content or behaviour that we believe is over the line”.
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