Elon Musk continues to dominate the social media landscape, irritating companies like Apple with his new restrictions about free speech and the absence of sensors on his latest acquisition, the Twitter app.

Musk has recently stated that App Store fees are excessively expensive. Musk stated on November 19 that “App store fees are plainly too high owing to the iOS/Android duopoly” and that it is a “hidden 30% Internet tax.”

Musk targeted the Department of Justice’s antitrust section in another tweet. An unidentified source informed Politico that the FCC is probing app store guidelines. Early in 2021, Twitter competitor Parler was removed from Google Play, the App Store, and subsequently Amazon’s Cloud Services as the app’s overall downloads skyrocketed. Conservatives slammed the action, seeing it as evidence that large tech giants had a monopoly on online communication.

There are now doubts over whether Twitter will be removed from app stores owing to its competitive advantage in terms of free expression. Musk seems unfazed by such rumors and already has a strategy in place if they come true, stating he would create his own phone in the event Twitter gets removed from Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

“I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone,” he wrote in response to a Twitter post from podcaster Liz Wheeler. “The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?” Wheeler said.

Neither Apple, maker of the iPhone, nor Google, developer of the Android mobile operating system, have stated publicly that Twitter may be removed from the App Store or Google Play.

However, Epoch Times stated:

Speculation ramped up earlier this month after Apple’s Twitter account deleted all of its posts and an Apple executive in charge of the App Store, Phil Scheller, appeared to delete his account. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, is still active on the platform along with several other Apple Twitter accounts.

And Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth wrote for the New York Times earlier in November that Twitter not adhering to “Apple and Google’s guidelines would be catastrophic” for the app and would risk its “expulsion from their app stores.” Roth also claimed that when he recently “departed the company, the calls from the app review teams had already begun,”

Musk also launched a poll on Wednesday asking Twitter users whether the firm should “give a broad amnesty to banned accounts, assuming they have not violated the law or participated in egregious spam?” Approximately 72% of respondents voted in support of amnesty. Musk added hours later that “amnesty begins next week” without any explanation.

In addition, he said that the lack of a so-called moderation committee was due to social and political activist organizations who, he claimed, violated an agreement with him by instructing companies to cease advertising on Twitter.

“A large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition,” Musk wrote last week. “They broke the deal,” he added.

More on this story via The Republic Brief:

After taking over, Musk restored a number of prominent accounts, including Project Veritas, Jordan Peterson, James Lindsay, and former President Donald Trump. Trump has not used his Twitter account since it was restored about a week ago. The reinstatement of Trump’s account appears to have triggered the most left-wing backlash. The so-called “Stop Toxic Twitter” coalition, comprised of 60 activist groups, said that Musk needs to enforce the company’s rules before Musk’s takeover.

“Unless and until Musk can be trusted to enforce Twitter’s prior community standards, the platform is not safe for users or advertisers,” they said earlier this month. CONTINUE READING…