Musk Claims to Create a New Phone if Twitter Is Taken Down From App Stores

• Musk modified the company’s daily operations after the takeover.
• Currently, Apple and Google charge between 15% and 30% for sales made within apps.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has stated that if Twitter were to be taken off the Apple App Store and Google Play, he would think about creating an “alternative phone.” Since taking over Twitter at the end of October, Musk has made a lot of changes to the service, including numerous staff layoffs and firings that prompted officials in charge of data privacy and content moderation to leave. 

Apple’s Lengthy App Guidelines

Musk slammed Twitter for damaging democracy by failing to follow “free speech values” before making an offer to purchase the company for $44 billion, and not long before that, he referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist.” Apps must abide by a long list of requirements set forth by Apple to be installed on iPhones and other Apple devices and to continue to function as such. Purchases made within applications presently incur a 15% to 30% fee from Apple and Google. 

 Former Apple marketing executive Phil Schiller, who oversees the company’s App Store, deactivated his Twitter account last week, which could be a terrible omen for Twitter. Musk had criticized Apple’s fees on Twitter, calling them “a hidden 30% tax on the internet,” and that prompted Schiller to make his move. Musk said on Friday, “I certainly hope it does not come to that,” even if he did not rule out the idea that his improvements to Twitter could cause the app store to ban the service.