Apple and Elon Musk's Twitter are on a collision course

Elon Musk has announced big, albeit confusing, plans for Twitter since helium took implicit the societal web past month.

Musk wants to vastly summation the gross the institution makes done subscriptions portion opening up the tract to much "free speech," which successful immoderate cases seems to mean restoring antecedently banned accounts similar the 1 owned by erstwhile president Donald Trump.

But Musk's plans for Twitter could enactment it successful struggle with 2 of the biggest tech companies: Apple and Google.

One of the biggest risks to Musk's imaginativeness for "Twitter 2.0" is the anticipation that his changes interruption Apple oregon Google's app rules successful a mode that slows down the institution oregon adjacent gets its bundle booted from app stores.

Tensions are already brewing. Musk complained successful a tweet conscionable past week astir app store fees that Google and Apple complaint companies similar Twitter.

"App store fees are evidently excessively precocious owed to the iOS/Android duopoly," Musk tweeted. "It is simply a hidden 30% taxation connected the Internet." In a follow-up post, helium tagged the Department of Justice's antitrust division, which is reportedly investigating app store rules.

His ailment is implicit the 15% to 30% chopped Apple and Google instrumentality from purchases made wrong apps, which could devour into the desperately-needed gross from Musk's plans for $8 per period from Twitter Blue subscriptions.

Over the weekend, Phil Schiller, the erstwhile caput Apple selling enforcement who inactive oversees the App Store, seemingly deleted his widely-followed Twitter relationship with hundreds of thousands of followers.

There are signs Twitter has already seen an summation successful harmful contented since Musk has taken over, putting the company's apps astatine risk. In October, soon aft Musk became "chief Twit," a question of online trolls and bigots flooded the tract with hatred code and racist epithets.

The trolls organized connected 4chan, past barreled into Twitter with anti-Black and Jewish epithets. Twitter suspended galore of the accounts, according to the nonprofit Network Contagion Research Institute.

Musk's program to connection paid bluish verification badges person besides led to chaos and accounts impersonating large corporations and figures, which person caused immoderate advertisers to shy distant from the societal network, successful particular, Eli Lilly aft a fake verified tweet erroneously said insulin would be provided for free.

The app stores noticed.

"And arsenic I departed the company, the calls from the app reappraisal teams had already begun," erstwhile Twitter caput of spot and information Yoel Roth wrote this period successful the New York Times.

Twitter and Apple person been partners for years. In 2011, Apple profoundly integrated tweets into its iOS operating system. Tweets that relation arsenic authoritative institution communications are regularly posted nether Apple CEO Tim Cook's account. Apple has advertised caller iPhones and its large motorboat events connected Twitter.

But the narration appears poised to alteration arsenic Musk moves to make a larger bulk of income from subscriptions.

Twitter reported $5.08 cardinal successful gross successful 2021. If fractional of that comes from subscriptions successful the future, arsenic Musk has said is the goal, hundreds of millions of dollars would extremity up going to Apple and Google — a tiny magnitude for them, but a perchance monolithic deed for Twitter.

One of Apple's main rules is that integer contented — crippled coins, oregon an avatar's outfit, oregon a premium subscription— that's purchased wrong an iPhone app, has to usage Apple's in-app purchasing mechanism, successful which Apple bills the idiosyncratic directly. Apple takes 30% of sales, decreasing to 15% aft a twelvemonth for subscriptions, and pays the remainder to the developer.

Companies specified arsenic Epic Games, Spotify, and Match Group lobby against Apple and Google's rules arsenic portion of the Coalition for App Fairness. Microsoft and Meta person besides filed briefs successful court criticizing the strategy and made public remarks aimed astatine app stores.

One enactment for Musk is to instrumentality an attack akin to what Spotify has done: Offer a little $9.99 terms connected the web, wherever it doesn't wage Apple a cut, and past users simply log successful to their existing relationship wrong the app. Users subscribing to a Premium subscription wrong the iPhone app wage $12.99, efficaciously covering Apple's fees.

Or Twitter could spell further, similar Netflix, which stopped offering subscriptions done Apple wholly successful 2018.

Musk could merchantability Twitter Blue connected the company's website astatine a cheaper terms and tweet to his implicit 118 cardinal followers that Blue is lone disposable connected Twitter.com. It mightiness enactment and could assistance chopped Apple retired of immoderate fees.

But that besides means Twitter would person to region galore options for informing users astir the subscription wrong the app, wherever they're astir apt to marque a purchasing decision. And Apple has elaborate rules astir what apps tin nexus to erstwhile telling users astir alternate ways to pay.

As Netflix's app says: "You can't motion up for Netflix successful the app. We cognize it's a hassle."

Musk faces the powerfulness of Apple and Google and their quality to diminution to o.k. oregon adjacent propulsion apps that interruption their rules implicit contented moderation and harmful content.

It's happened before. Apple said in a missive to Congress past twelvemonth that it had removed implicit 30,000 apps from its store implicit objectionable contented successful 2020.

If app store-related problems onslaught Twitter, it could beryllium "catastrophic," according to the erstwhile Twitter caput of spot and information Roth. Twitter lists app reappraisal arsenic a hazard origin successful filings with the SEC, helium noted.

Apple and Google tin region apps for assorted reasons, similar issues with an app's information and whether it complies with the level billing rules. And app reviews tin hold merchandise schedules and origin havoc whenever Musk wants to motorboat caller features.

In the past fewer years, the app stores person started much intimately scrutinizing user-generated contented that starts shading into convulsive code oregon societal networks that deficiency contented moderation.

There's precedent for a implicit ban. Apple and Google banned Parler, a overmuch smaller and conservative-leaning site, successful 2020 aft posts connected the tract promoted the U.S. Capitol riot connected Jan. 6 and included calls for violence. In Apple's case, the determination to prohibition high-profile apps is made by a radical called the Executive Review Board, which is led by Schiller — the Apple enforcement who deleted his Twitter relationship implicit the weekend.

Although Apple approved Truth Social, Trump's societal networking app, successful February, it took longer for Google Play to o.k. it. The institution told CNBC successful August that the societal web lacked "effective systems for moderating user-generated content" and truthful violated Google's Play Store presumption of service. Google yet approved the app successful October, saying that apps request to "remove objectionable posts specified arsenic those that incite violence."

Musk reportedly fired galore of Twitter's interaction contented moderators this month.

Apple and Google person been cautious portion banning apps similar Parler, pointing to circumstantial line violations similar screenshots of the offending posts, alternatively of citing wide governmental reasons oregon unit from lawmakers. On a societal web arsenic ample arsenic Twitter, it's often imaginable to find contented that hasn't been flagged yet.

Still, Apple and Google are improbable to privation to wade into a hard conflict implicit what constitutes harmful accusation and what doesn't. That could extremity up inviting nationalist scrutiny and governmental debate. It's imaginable that app stores simply hold approving caller versions alternatively of threatening to region apps entirely.

Future features could besides irk Apple and Google and punctual a person look astatine the platform's existent operations.

Musk has reportedly talked astir allowing users to paywall user-generated videos — thing that erstwhile employees deliberation would pb to the diagnostic being utilized for big content, according to the Washington Post.

Apple's App Store has ne'er allowed pornography, a argumentation that dates backmost to the company's founder, Steve Jobs, and Google besides bans apps centered astir intersexual content.

Anything that isn't harmless for enactment needs to beryllium hidden by default. Twitter presently allows big content, which could enactment it adjacent much straight into reviewer sights.

"Apps with user-generated contented oregon services that extremity up being utilized chiefly for pornographic contented ... bash not beryllium connected the App Store and whitethorn beryllium removed without notice," Apple's guidelines say.

But Musk often runs towards battles, not distant from them. Now helium has to determine whether it's worthy taking connected 2 of the astir invaluable and almighty companies successful Silicon Valley implicit 30% fees and Twitter's quality to big edgy tweets.

An Apple typical didn't respond to a petition for comment. A Google typical declined to comment. Twitter didn't respond to an email and the institution nary longer has a communications department. Musk didn't respond to a tweet.