Elon Musk Accuses Apple of Hating Free Speech in America and Censorship

In a series of tweets posted today, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has accused Apple of hating free speech in America as the company has seemingly stopped advertising on the platform.

Musk

“Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?,” Musk tweeted. He followed up with another tweet mentioning Apple CEO Tim Cook, asking him “What’s going on here?”

Musk then quoted a tweet from @LBRYcom which pointed out how Apple asked them to filter some search terms from being returned during Covid.

“If we did not filter the terms, our apps would not be allowed in the store. Apple may make good products, but they have been opposed to free speech for some time,” the tweet said.

Musk has now created a Twitter poll asking his followers whether Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.

Musk has publicly criticized Apple’s 30% take of all App Store transactions in the past. It’s unlikely he’ll want to give 30 cents of every dollar Twitter makes through its planned subscriptions to Apple or Google.

Although Twitter has indefinitely delayed the relaunch of its $9.99 CAD Twitter Blue subscription with account verification, Musk has made it clear he wants to monetize the platform with subscriptions. Twitter’s advertising revenue has dipped significantly as of late, and the company is crunched for cash.

Last week, Musk made it clear that he will “make an alternative phone” if Apple or Google decide to kick Twitter off the App Store or Play Store.

Musk later confirmed that Apple is threatening the Twitter app’s presence in the App Store or making some moderation demands. He previously said that if the Twitter app is kicked from the App Store or Google Play, he would build an alternative phone.

Musk continued to add, “Secret suppression of free speech by Apple. Customers were never told. What the hell is going on here?”, when app LBRY revealed what Apple wanted for moderation demands.

More details have come out from Musk, saying “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”

The Tesla founder continues to argue against the Apple Store tax as well:

It looks like Musk has officially kicked off his campaign against Apple, as shown in the following tweet:

Over the weekend, he also shared slides from a recent internal meeting where he detailed his plans for “Twitter 2.0.”

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