billionaire Elon Musk took to social media on Monday after Apple reportedly asked for clarification from the Twitter CEO. Apple, through a series of tweets, said it had “stopped almost all ads on Twitter” and Musk wondered aloud whether Apple respects freedom of speech in the United States.
The head of Twitter launched a messaging surge aimed at Apple on his account, declaring that Apple had threatened to remove Twitter from the App Store and had not provided a clear justification. He called out the company for withholding reasons, insisting that a game of transparency was overdue.
In another post, Musk criticized Apple again. He suggested that Apple imposes a hidden 30 percent fee on every purchase made through the App Store and hinted that he would not cover that cost with a simple joke. He framed the choice in stark terms: pay 30 percent or pursue a confrontation, comparing it to a highway fork where a car named Elon Musk chooses to head into conflict.
He later tweeted that Apple should disclose any censorship actions it takes that affect its users. He even opened one of Apple’s polls for its users to decide whether such censorship actions should be made public. The poll drew responses from more than half a million users in under an hour, with a majority favoring transparency.
According to EFE, the Twitter app appeared to be functioning normally on Apple iPhones at the moment.
New blow to Twitter
Should Apple decide to proceed with the ban, Twitter could face a fresh hit to its ad revenue. Recent disclosures suggest the company has already lost a sizable portion of advertisers. NPR reports that Twitter could have shed roughly half of its top advertisers, amounts totaling several hundred million dollars this year alone.
The withdrawal of advertising by brands can create a vacuum in revenue and push leadership to reexamine policy choices and content strategies. The move also intersects with debates about content moderation, including past decisions such as the reinstatement of high-profile accounts that had been suspended for violations of platform rules.
Elon Musk is frequently described as a staunch advocate for free expression, often resisting heavy-handed content controls. Since his takeover, the platform has increasingly reflected a broader push for fewer constraints on user posts, a shift that has reignited discussions about hate speech and safety on the network.
The tension between platform openness and responsibility remains central to the on-going conversations about how social networks should balance free speech with the protection of users from harmful content. Observers note that the dynamic has significant implications for advertisers, users, and the broader media landscape, especially as policy decisions ripple through the ecosystem of digital communications.