Elon Musk looked ready to go to war against Apple after claiming that Cupertino was preparing to boot the Twitter app from the iOS App Store. But now he’s dialing down the tensions after Apple apparently invited Musk to visit the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
On Wednesday, Musk tweeted a video of him visiting Apple headquarters. In the same tweet, he noted that Apple CEO Tim Cook personally showed him around the campus.
Musk then signaled he’s done fueding with Apple, at least for now. “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,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet.
Musk’s battle with Apple revolves around his ongoing effort to roll back content moderation on Twitter to prioritize free speech. Media reports have pointed out that Musk’s stance could collide with Apple and Google, which require social media apps to institute content moderation, or risk being pulled from the iOS and Google Play app stores.
Last week, Musk tweeted that he’d create his own smartphone if Apple or Google ends up booting Twitter from their app stores. Days later, Musk alleged in another tweet: “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
He then escalated his feud further with a controversial post that claimed: “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?” In addition, Musk criticized Apple’s long-standing, but notorious policy of taking a 30% cut from all digital sales over the iOS App Store. The same policy means Twitter must hand over 30% of the sales made from selling Twitter Blue subscriptions over iOS.
Musk posted the incendiary tweets while Apple said nothing publicly. But it seems Cupertino responded by quietly inviting Musk to company headquarters. That said, it remains unclear if Musk managed to settle matters concerning Apple’s advertising spend on Twitter or its policy of taking a 30% cut from iOS app sales. So it’s possible Musk’s feud with Apple could reignite later.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.