Elon Musk promises to speak to Tim Cook about Apple’s ‘hidden tax’
Elon Musk vowed to personally reach out to Apple CEO Tim Cook in hopes of getting the iPhone maker to lower the 30% “hidden tax” it levies on app developers using the app Store demand money.
The Tesla mogul, who recently rebranded the social media platform Twitter as the X, is once again angered by Apple’s notorious surcharge.
“Apple does take 30% but I’ll speak to @tim_cook and see if this can be adjusted to be only 30% of what ๐ keeps to maximize what creators get,” Musk wrote on Wednesday on his X account.
The Post reached out to Apple for comment.
On Wednesday, Musk urged X users to “please subscribe to as many YouTubers on this platform as you find interesting.”
“People from all corners of the world post incredible content on ๐, but often live in difficult circumstances where even a few hundred dollars a month can transform their lives,” Musk wrote in the post.
Musk announced that the social media platform will incentivize creators to charge users for subscriptions.
“Whereas we previously said that ๐ would keep nothing for 12 months and then 10%, we are changing this policy to state that ๐ doesn’t keep anything forever until the payout exceeds $100,000 then 10%,” Musk wrote.
“The first 12 months are still free for everyone.”
Last year, Musk complained about Apple’s “30% hidden tax on the internet,” citing it as a reason for delaying the launch of the subscription service, then known as “Twitter Blue.”
Musk posted a meme implying he was willing to “go to war” with Apple rather than pay the commission.
“Apple’s Store is like a 30 percent tax on the internet,” Musk said.
Musk added that the app store fee was “literally 10 times higher than it should be.”
Tech executives have long criticized Apple for its 30% fee on paid downloads and other purchases for developers who make annual sales of $1 million or more through the store.
In June 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple in a blog post, insisting that Facebook will not pay creators fees for work published on the social media platform until 2023.
“If we introduce a revenue share, it will be less than the 30 percent that Apple and others get,” Zuckerberg said.
Musk and Cook met in November after the former accused the latter of threatening to ban Twitter from the App Store.
“Tim made it clear that Apple never considered doing this,” Musk tweeted, saying the altercation was the result of a misunderstanding.
In February, the Justice Department intensified its antitrust investigation into Apple over alleged anticompetitive practices related to the App Store.
Federal investigators are reportedly examining Apple’s policies on third-party apps on its devices and whether the IOS operating system favors its own software products over those of other companies.
