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.
“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?”
What’s going on here @tim_cook?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
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.
Who else has Apple censored? https://t.co/lZculFIkAX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Musk has now created a Twitter poll asking his followers whether Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.
Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
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.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
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.
Secret suppression of free speech by Apple. Customers were never told. What the hell is going on here?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
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.”
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
The Tesla founder continues to argue against the Apple Store tax as well:
Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store? https://t.co/LGkPZ4EYcz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
It looks like Musk has officially kicked off his campaign against Apple, as shown in the following tweet:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597302404239659008?s=61&t=M5VykReAYTC–JZZZAfYgQ
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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Strangely contradictory position. Advertisers have no obligation to advertise on any platform. This also is a form of ‘free speech’. Having your ads randomly turn up next to unsavoury speech on twitter is going to cause all advertisers to reconsider their ad spend. Also what does ‘mostly’ mean. Sounds like Elon is engaging in mafia style behaviour. If you don’t spend more on ads on his platform he will send his minions after you.
Of course it’s free speech and it doesn’t seem like he’s questioning their right to stop advertising. He’s questioning their motivation. They’re dropping ads because he refuses to restrict user speech as they’d like it restricted. He’s not wrong, that restricting speech or pressuring others to do so isn’t in the spirit of free speech. What he’s engaged in is pointing this out because it is harmful to his business.
My freedom of speech means I could call on you to be censored. While that would be me practicing my own freedom of speech, it would also be a good indication that I’m not in favour of free speech [for others].
What’s his motivation for questioning their motivation especially since he used the word ‘mostly’? He himself has stated that Twitter is facing serious financial difficulties and might be headed for bankruptcy. So questioning their motivation doesn’t equate with his advocacy of ‘free speech’ but rather his concern about the viability of twitter without advertising income, which is a valid concern.
He’s just using ‘free speech’ strawmen arguments as a cudgel. It’s a transparent charade which Elon’s minions will gladly buy. To be clear, I think he’s a visionary when it comes to Tesla and SpaceX. I just think he’s upset that he waived ‘due diligence’ in his Twitter purchase agreement and was forced to purchase it. Spending $44bn on a company worth $10bn at the most will do that to even the smartest person on the planet. It’s like he bought a toilet and thinks the problem is that people don’t defecate enough in it. Now he’s increased the defecation rate and is upset that advertisers don’t want their ads showing up next to the faeces. Fundamentally, this isn’t an issue about ‘free speech’ as much as he would like you to believe it is.
Of course that’s his motivation for pointing it out. That’s why I said he’s pointing it out because it’s harmful to his business.
And he’s pointing out that their motivation is counter to the ideals of free speech, because their motivation is literally to force/encourage him to restrict speech.
Both are true.
There’s a chasm of assumptions between cutting ad spend on twitter to being accused of restricting free speech. Elon is free to run Twitter as he wishes. Just as Apple is free to not spend it’s money on Twitter. Both are free speech issues. That’s why I initially said that this is a contradictory position Elon has taken. But fundamentally it’s about $. Speech is just the smokescreen.
I don’t see the contradiction. Both are free to make business decisions as they see fit. But, pretending the motivations aren’t clear and obvious is a bit much.
It’s a contradiction when you are calling out others free speech in the name of free speech. It’s glaringly obvious and disingenuous.
That’s a stretch.
Free speech includes the right to disagree with other’s speech. It’s inherent and fundamental to the concept (at least until the left is able to redefine it). It also allows one to question motives, which is what he’s doing.
Free speech has never meant one must disagree with others in silence or avoid challenging their opinions, actions and words (again, at least until the left gets their way).
Not a stretch at all. I don’t see this as a left/right speech issue. I see it as $ issue dressed up in the guise of a free speech issue. Look at it from a pure business economic perspective. If you have reduced discretionary spending by consumers due to economic downturn, it will directly affect marketing spend as it is & Elon keeps giving marketing departments more and more justifications to decrease twitter ad spend based directly on his leadership. Ad execs have been telling Elon that real engagement is down, bot impressions are up, bigoted speech is up and given his behaviour there is a concern about his leadership. So instead of addressing the issues that concern his advertisers (his clients) he is busy blaming them for the problems he himself is creating.
And in isolation, one could possibly, maybe, reasonably pretend that was the case.
With Elon claiming that Apple is demanding moderation or they’ll block the app, that pretence is more difficult to maintain, with a straight face.
If Elon is publicly lying about Apple trying to force him to restrict speech, that becomes a legal issue. Slander and libel are legal restrictions on speech.
I think one is in isolation if one buy’s Elon’s claim that this is about ‘free speech’. Libel is a very high bar in the US. Elon can imply this is about Apple restricting speech all he wants without issue.
He’s been running polls on twitter, which everyone knows are meaningless, and using them as as dubious cover for decisions he’d already stated he would be making. That doesn’t give anyone confidence in his integrity/honesty. There are people that believe what he’s saying because it fits with their weltanschauung and people that see through it.
You can choose to look at it through the political smokescreen that he’s throwing up or look at it through an economic lens which businesses tend to make their ad spending budgetary decisions on.
Spot-on