Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who can be the brand new proprietor and CEO of Twitter, bashed Apple this week after claiming the corporate has threatened to take away the Twitter app from its App Retailer, accusing the corporate of hating “free speech.”

The Twitter app remains to be accessible for iOS units, and there is no signal that the favored social media app is at actual threat of getting booted by Apple.

The Tesla CEO’s livid tweets recall how Musk has lengthy taken photographs at Apple, and highlighted simply how a lot energy the tech juggernaut nonetheless has over the world’s richest particular person.

In the meantime, Apple as an organization by no means engages in public trash discuss towards Musk or Tesla, and has even averted taking veiled photographs at them, versus the frequent indirect criticisms geared toward Fb.

Behind all of the assaults, Musk has nice admiration for Apple’s unique founder, Steve Jobs. Musk has even begun working with Steve Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson, on his personal official biography.

Musk’s newest spate of Apple insults started final week. This week, Musk claimed in a tweet that Apple had largely stopped promoting on the Twitter platform.

He tried to impress Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner right into a public dialogue concerning the discount in promoting on Twitter, asking him if Apple hates “free speech in America” and “what is going on on right here.” Cook dinner didn’t reply.

Apple shouldn’t be alone in lowering its campaigns on the social media platform since Musk took over.

After Musk closed a leveraged buyout deal on Oct. 28 and appointed himself CEO, a spike of anti-Black racist and antisemitic hate speech flooded the platform, partly due to raids that have been coordinated by customers on on-line chat platform 4chan.

Musk additionally started making steep cuts to Twitter’s workforce, gutting gross sales groups, groups accountable for measuring Twitter efficiency metrics and content material moderation groups, amongst others.

Twitter has been dropping advertisers and advert income ever since, with civil rights teams and former advertisers on the platform pressuring Musk to show that his a lot smaller staff can responsibly handle content material moderation, advert campaigns, cybersecurity and extra.

Whether or not correct or not, Musk’s allegation that Apple has “threatened to withhold” Twitter from its App Retailer could resonate with different builders.

Apple is infamous for offering few particulars when notifying app makers that their apps are susceptible to struggling delayed updates or removing from the App Retailer. Responses inside Apple’s App Retailer Join platform are terse, often citing a rule, however not elaborating on what particularly an app maker ought to do to repair the issue — for instance, Apple would possibly say the app has a “metadata drawback” or makes use of a banned utility programming interface.

Musk additionally chafes underneath Apple’s platform charges, that are between 15% and 30% of complete digital gross sales, just like the $8 Twitter Blue subscription that Musk has mentioned may very well be a serious product for the corporate. Musk mentioned it was a “de facto international tax” on the web earlier than he took over Twitter, however in his new function as an app proprietor, he has attacked it with growing vigor.

This week, he tweeted and deleted a meme that instructed he would somewhat “go to struggle” than pay 30% to Apple.

Apple earlier this week declined to touch upon the alleged menace of suspension or Apple’s advert spend with Twitter.

Tesla and Apple are neighbors within the San Francisco Bay Space, which implies that they’ve competed for expertise for greater than a decade. Now that competitors has prolonged into Texas.

Each corporations want mechanical engineers, industrial designers, supplies science and battery specialists, and expert software program engineers.

Apple has additionally invested closely in creating its personal electrical autonomous automobile know-how. If the so-called “Apple Automobile” ever got here to market, Tesla and Apple could be direct rivals.

In that context, early examples of Musk tweaking Apple may very well be seen as pleasant rivalry.

When Tesla was nonetheless an underdog and upstart, Musk used to name Apple the “Tesla graveyard,” in response to a number of former Tesla workers who spoke with CNBC. Internally, he would encourage sad Tesla staff to go apply for a soft job at Apple.

He finally introduced this up in a public interview, saying that Apple employed individuals who have been fired from Tesla.

In 2018, dozens of former Tesla workers landed at Apple, together with some who have been laid off and others who merely jumped ship from Tesla. At the moment, the EV maker’s North American PR staff instructed CNBC, “Tesla is the exhausting path. We have now 100 occasions much less cash than Apple, so in fact they will afford to pay extra.”

One of the crucial notable individuals to change sides was Doug Area, who began at Apple, joined Tesla after which rejoined Apple. Now he works for a extra direct Tesla competitor, Ford.

Final summer time, Musk laid out a few of his issues with the best way Apple does enterprise on a Tesla earnings name, though he was cautious to not title the corporate at first.

He began by criticizing the quantity of cobalt, a mineral linked to human rights abuses, which Apple makes use of to make batteries in its units. In 2018, Musk pledged to get rid of Tesla’s use of cobalt in its manufacturing completely. Tesla has shifted a good portion of its autos to a kind of battery known as an LFP, or lithium iron phosphate battery. Nonetheless, it has not managed to get rid of want of cobalt utterly but.

In its most up-to-date Impression Report, Tesla wrote, “we count on our absolute cobalt demand to extend over the approaching years as a result of our automobile and cell manufacturing development fee is forecasted to outpace the general fee of cobalt discount on a per cell foundation.”

On the charging entrance, Tesla is experimenting with methods to provide different EV drivers entry to its community. However the firm hasn’t opened up charging on a mainstream foundation but.

Later within the earnings name, Musk criticized Apple’s “walled backyard” enterprise mannequin when answering a query about when Tesla chargers would possibly have the ability to cost different automobile makes.

“I believe we do need to emphasize that our objective is to help the arrival of sustainable vitality,” Musk mentioned. “It’s not to create a walled backyard and use that to bludgeon our rivals, which is utilized by some corporations.”

In case anyone missed the reference to Apple’s App Retailer, which Apple maintains because the unique technique to distribute apps to its units, Musk then faked a cough and mentioned, “Apple.”

Musk additionally has used Apple’s title to generate buzz. In September, when Apple introduced satellite tv for pc connectivity in its new iPhone 14 fashions (with satellites being operated by GlobalStar) Musk instructed that Apple had regarded into utilizing Starlink, which makes use of totally different know-how.

“We have had some promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity,” Musk tweeted, complimenting the iPhone staff. Apple has by no means acknowledged any negotiations and even dialogue with SpaceX.

Have Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner and Musk ever spoken in depth?

In keeping with Cook dinner, the reply isn’t any.

The Apple chief mentioned in a 2021 podcast that he has “nice admiration and respect” for Tesla, however that he had by no means spoken with Elon Musk. The 2 have been photographed toes aside with different enterprise leaders at a 2016 assembly with former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower.

However Musk claims that Apple declined his proposal to amass Tesla years in the past, when the EV maker’s market cap stood at a fraction of its present worth.

“Throughout the darkest days of the Mannequin 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook dinner to debate the opportunity of Apple buying Tesla (for 1/10 of our present worth). He refused to take the assembly,” Musk tweeted in 2020.

One other model of the story comes from “Energy Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Guess of the Century,” a guide by enterprise journalist Tim Higgins.

Round 2016, in response to the guide, Musk and Cook dinner spoke about Apple doubtlessly buying Tesla. It was battling excessive prices and points delivery its Mannequin 3 automobile on the time. Apple, with its experience in manufacturing and huge quantities of money, would have been an ideal acquirer.

Besides, in Higgins’ telling, Musk had one situation: He wished to grow to be CEO of the mixed Apple-Tesla.

“F— you,” Cook dinner mentioned, in response to the guide.