Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Shot of Elon Musk

Elon Musk says he met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and 'resolved the misunderstanding' after several tweets attacking the company

Elon Musk recently called out Apple's Tim Cook for pulling ads off of Twitter, but the two tech titans have seemingly mended fences.
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk said he met with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, adding another chapter to a strange and contentious week between the two tech titans.  

“Thanks @tim_cook for taking me around Apple’s beautiful HQ,” Musk wrote in a tweet, including a video of a large pond, with two shadows standing in the foreground. 

He followed it up with another tweet just a few hours later.

“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.”

The two peaceful tweets capped off several more aggressive missives from Musk, who repeatedly called out Apple this week, and at times Cook specifically, over claims that the tech giant stopped advertising on Twitter, threatened to remove it from its app store, and overcharged companies. (Both Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.)

On Monday, Musk tweeted that Apple had cut off most of its advertising on Twitter. Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter in the first quarter of this year, spending $48 million on ads, according to the The Washington Post. Apple ads accounted for 4% of Twitter’s revenue that quarter.

“Do they hate free speech in America?” He wrote, adding, “What’s going on here @tim_cook?”

Twitter has lost several major advertisers since Musk took over the company last month, including Pfizer, Volkswagen, and Chipotle. Recent reporting from tech newsletter Platformer revealed that weekly ad bookings for the company are down nearly 50%, and revenue in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is down 15%. 

But advertising is just one part of Musk’s problem with Apple. He claimed in another Monday tweet that the company “threatened to withhold” Twitter’s app from its app store, but “won’t tell us why.” 

Advertisers and companies have been distancing themselves from Musk’s Twitter since he began implementing changes at the company earlier this month, largely in response to Musk’s decision to cut most of the platform’s content moderation team and the consequent rise of hate speech observed on the site. 

Getting kicked out of the app store would be a major blow to the social media platform, which is already enduring a period of extreme tumult. Musk has so far laid off around 50% of Twitter’s staff in an effort to cut costs, with hundreds resigning in recent weeks as the new CEO brings his trademark “hardcore” work ethic and management style to the company. 

Musk went on to denounce Apple’s “secret 30% tax on everything” in yet another tweet on Monday, referring to the percentage of profits that the company takes from app store sales. Musk may have also delayed relaunching the platform’s Twitter Blue subscription service so that the feature could be re-tooled as an in-app purchase, and avoid Apple’s fee. 

The fee Apple receives from app downloads is well-known among tech companies, with Spotify and Facebook parent Meta having criticized Apple for the percentage cut in the past.

Epic Games, the publisher of popular videogame Fortnite, even took Apple to court last year over the embedded fee. Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney has criticized Apple’s model as a “monopoly” and recently sided with Musk on the issues between Apple and Twitter.

“Apple is a menace to freedom worldwide,” Sweeney wrote on Twitter this week. “They maintain an illegal monopoly on app distribution, they use it to control American discourse, and they’re endangering protesters in China by storing sensitive customer data in a state-owned data center.”

Billing startup Paddle also took Apple to court last year over its payment system, and its CEO Christian Owens recently welcomed Musk as an ally in their case. “It points to how egregious the 30% fee is. I’m glad Elon is in the fight,” Owens told Insider this week.

A pondside meeting at Apple HQ will likely not be enough for Musk to accept Apple’s download fee, although Owens and other CEOs dissatisfied with Apple might soon find him not to be the most reliable ally.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×