Elon Musk’s declaration of war on Apple in a series of tweets on Monday gives Spotify and Epic Games, maker of the Fortnite game, a powerful ally against charging 30% fees on sales brokered through the App Store.
Musk criticized the fee Apple charges software developers for sales made on its apps and posted a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” rather than pay the commission.
The billionaire also suggested that Apple had threatened to block Twitter from the App Store, although he did not explain why.
Spotify had already filed antitrust complaints against Apple in Europe and Epic Games sued the company in the United States in 2020.
The European Commission is investigating whether Apple’s policies for app developers violate its rules after Spotify filed suit against the company in 2019.
Apple risks a fine of up to 10% of its global revenue if found guilty of violating EU competition rules.
Luke Suddards an analyst at investment firm Finimize, said Apple is “playing a dangerous game” by threatening to pull Twitter from the App Store.
“If Twitter is taken down, there may be another lawsuit going on. We’ve seen Elon Musk use the courts effectively during the Twitter buyout and it wouldn’t be surprising if he follows the same strategy now.”
Earlier this month, Epic Games asked a US appeals court to overturn parts of a lower court antitrust ruling that broadly favored the US company.
Apple said commissions it earns help fund app reviews to ensure consumers aren’t exposed to fraudulent, pornographic or privacy-intrusive apps.
“Apple continues to undercut competitors and the impact is huge – on consumers, app developers and now, authors and publishers. Without policymakers taking action, nothing will change,” Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek wrote on Twitter last month.
Apple, Twitter and Spotify declined to comment.
Source: CNN Brasil
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