Elon Musk and Tim Cook settle "misunderstanding" over App Store dispute

Reverses Musk's recent anti-Apple trend

Days after suggesting Apple wanted to remove Twitter from the App Store, Elon Musk says he has cleared up the "misunderstanding" on the issue.

The world's richest man said on Wednesday that he met Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple's headquarters, and that the company never considered booting out Twitter from its App Store.

That rumour, of course, originated with Musk last week.

Musk thanked Cook for showing him around "Apple's beautiful HQ" in Cupertino, California. He also tweeted: "Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so."

Musk recently criticised Apple and Cook over the company's App Store policies and its commission rules. Apple collects a service charge of anywhere from 15% to 30% of all digital purchases made through apps on iPhones. Musk referred to the Apple fee rules as a "hidden 30 per cent tax on the internet."

He also claimed Apple was putting pressure on Twitter over content moderation rules, asking if the company dislikes "free speech in America." He also noted that "Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter."

The next day he said: "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won't tell us why."

Apple was Twitter's largest advertiser in Q1 this year, spending £40 million - about 4% of Twitter's revenue for the period, according to documents seen by The Washington Post.

Storm in a teacup

Musk now says Apple never intended to ban Twitter.

Although it's unclear what was discussed during the reported meeting between Musk and Cook, Apple's "tax" could have been on the agenda. The tax came under fire in recent years as part of a dispute between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games, which wanted to allow people to make payments using external services to avoid Apple's fees. The end result of that saw Apple loosening its restrictions.

Neither Apple nor Cook has commented on the meeting, but Musk has removed the tweet suggesting going to war with Apple.

Since Musk took control of Twitter in October, the company has seen a sharp decline in income as advertisers have left the site, largely due to Musk's relaxation of content moderation policies.

Musk began aggressively firing staff after the acquisition and told employees that the company was losing so much money that bankruptcy was not out of the question. The company is now thought to have lost at least half its workforce.

Following the departure of key executives last month - including the CISO, chief compliance officer, chief privacy officer and the head of safety and integrity - the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it was monitoring Twitter with 'deep concern.' The company could be fined millions of dollars for disobeying FTC orders.

Earlier this week, the EU warned Musk that Twitter risks fines, and perhaps a ban, if it doesn't adhere to its stringent guidelines for content moderation.

Thierry Breton, the EU's commissioner for digital policy, spoke with Musk via video chat to discuss Twitter's readiness for the Digital Services Act (DSA). Breton reportedly gave Musk a number of requirements, including giving up the practice of restoring banned users in an "arbitrary" manner and committing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by 2023.

Breton reiterated that under the DSA, Twitter might be subject to a ban throughout all of Europe or penalties of up to 6% of its worldwide revenue.