Elon Musk slams Apple for pulling ad spend from Twitter

Twitter’s owner Elon Musk is unhappy that Apple has stopped advertising on the platform.

Musk fired off a series of tweets that slammed Apple for “hating free speech”, charging 30% for its App Store fees and threatening to remove Twitter from its App Store. He also tagged Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer in one of his tweets, demanding an explanation.

Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

What’s going on here @tim_cook?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

According to The Washington Post, Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter in the first quarter of 2022, spending $48 million on ads on the platform. However, since Musk’s takeover of Twitter, holding company Omnicom has asked its clients, including Apple, to pause advertising on the platform out of concern for brand safety.

Apple has so far yet to respond to Musk's comments.

US-based non-profit organisation Media Matters reported that 50 of the top 100 advertisers, who spent $750m in 2022, had stopped Twitter advertising and a handful of others had curtailed spending on the platform.

Notable brands that have paused advertising on Twitter include VW, General Motors, Diageo, Heineken, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Mars and Ford.