Apple is now threatening Twitter's presence in the App Store, Elon Musk confirms.
Earlier Monday, Musk also revealed Apple has “mostly stopped” advertising on Twitter since his takeover in October.Speculation that Apple could threaten to use its powers against Twitter arose last week when Apple executive Phil Schiller, who heads the App Store, deleted his Twitter account. Schiller removed his page shortly after Musk reinstated Donald Trump on the service.It’s unclear what Apple “withholding” the app would entail.
The company could either reject updates to the app or remove Twitter for iPhone and iPad users entirely.Either way, here’s a tech company attempting to strongarm a lower-scale platform into obeying censorship commands.
Apple hopes to warn Musk that it can cripple any platform that dares to adopt a free speech-first policy. The Apple App Store is crucial to the distribution of any mainstream apps
A service could not maintain reach without an app readily available for iOS users.For example: Apple dismantling the app would force users to turn to the inconvenient mobile web version, one that does not include phone notifications.
Apple took a similar approach to the conservative social media service Parler in 2020. The tech tyrants removed the Parler app following Jan. 6, sparking a similar reaction from Google’s Android App Store and Amazon Web Services
Apple, Google, and Amazon have a stranglehold on the internet and the unilateral power of dictating content moderation.
Thereby Elon Musk has vowed to create a new phone should Apple and Google ban Twitter.