As a general principle, waging war against Apple doesn’t end well for enemy combatants. Just ask Meta, Google, Spotify, and Epic Games, among many, many others. (Anyone remember Adobe Flash?)
But Elon Musk, the latest thorn in Apple’s side, is no ordinary fighter. And if he’s got the stomach, savvy, and bankroll to play his cards right, Twitter’s new owner stands a fighting chance of winning one over on Tim Cook and company.
Musk fired opening shots Monday at the world’s most valuable company, railing against Apple for three sins against Twitter: scaling back its ad buy on the platform, charging a 30% fee on in-app transactions, and threatening to remove it from the App Store without explanation.
Musk didn’t provide evidence to support his claims of Apple reducing its ad spending and imperiling Twitter’s place in the app store, and Apple hasn’t commented on the accusations. Bloomberg, citing a source familiar with the matter, confirmed Apple has trimmed its Twitter ad buy.
On all three fronts, the current legal and regulatory system gives Musk minimal recourse.
Apple is free to allocate its marketing budget however it pleases. Apple’s ability to charge 30% transaction fees, long derided as excessive by developers, were recently upheld by a federal court as legal. And Apple is under no obligation to distribute apps that violate its rules for policing illegal and objectionable content, the most likely reason for Twitter potentially getting booted from the App Store.
Musk does, however, have the unique power to potentially change the rules of the game—and cost Apple billions of dollars in the process.
For more than a year, members of Congress have debated the Open App Markets Act, a piece of legislation that would dramatically weaken the app store duopoly of Apple and Google. The bill would force both outfits to allow competing app stores—including those with lower transaction fees and more lenient rules of operation—onto their respective iOS and Android mobile operating systems. (Apple executives counter that it would weaken user privacy and undermine systems prized by consumers.)
Apple doesn’t release its annual App Store revenue, but available evidence suggests the number totals tens of billions of dollars.
The Open App Markets Act breezed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in February with broad bipartisan support, but it never received a floor vote during the summer and didn’t gain traction in the House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has claimed the legislation lacks the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, while the bill’s lead sponsors and staunchest advocates argue it has the necessary support. The disconnect has led to allegations that Schumer is protecting Big Tech giants, who have donated generously to Democrats, while House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is avoiding an issue that could hurt her California delegation.
TIME reported earlier this month that Open App Markets Act sponsors still hope to pass the bill during Congress’ lame duck session, which ends in mid-December. White House officials said they support the effort, though the legislation still isn’t on either chamber’s calendar.
Enter Musk.
As the newly anointed crown prince of the culture war right, Musk could galvanize a Republican base already riled up about Big Tech’s undue influence. His Apple offensive certainly drew the attention of the GOP’s top Twitter warriors Monday.
If Musk can make Apple’s influence into a grassroots issue, one that GOP legislators can’t ignore, he could inspire an unlikely marriage of Republicans and Democrats who despise the concentrated power of Big Tech. Get the coalition big enough, and Congressional leadership could have a tough time keeping legislation off the calendar.
Will Musk ultimately make the Open App Markets Act into law? I still wouldn’t bet on it.
If Schumer and Pelosi haven’t docketed the bill by now, odds are they won’t in the next three weeks. And come January, the newly empowered Republican House majority likely will be led by legislators—including current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan—who have opposed the legislation.
In the meantime, Apple executives will work to cool tensions and keep Twitter available in the App Store. Musk likely will get in line, too, given that he would incur enormous losses if Twitter disappeared from millions of iPhones.
Even if Musk loses the battle of the day, though, the fight over Apple’s power isn’t going away. In Musk, Apple faces a formidable new foe, one who could still influence the outcome of the war.
Want to send thoughts or suggestions to Data Sheet? Drop me a line here.
Jacob Carpenter
