Elon Musk says Apple never considered removing Twitter from App Store

Elon Musk on Wednesday tweeted that the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from Apple Inc's App Store was resolved following his meeting with the iPhone maker's Chief Executive Tim Cook.

"Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so," the billionaire CEO of Twitter and Tesla said in a tweet.

On Monday, Musk had accused Apple of threatening to block Twitter from its app store without saying why in a series of tweets that also said it had stopped advertising on the social media platform.

He had later tagged Cook's Twitter account in another tweet, asking "what's going on here?"

Twitter and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Musk's latest tweet. Apple has not responded publicly to Musk's earlier tweets.

Among the list of grievances tweeted by Musk on Monday was the up to 30% fee Apple charges software developers for in-app purchases, with Musk posting a meme suggesting he was willing to "go to war" with Apple rather than paying the commission.

Analysts told AFP the clash may have come down to money, with Musk irked that the App Store takes a commission on transactions such as subscriptions.

Musk has delayed the relaunch of the Twitter Blue subscription tier intended to have users pay for perks such as account verification checkmarks.

Twitter rolled out Blue early in November, but pulled the plug after impersonators paid for check marks to appear legitimate in what former head of safety and security Yoel Roth referred to as "a disaster."

Both Apple and Google also require social networking services on their app stores to have effective systems for moderating harmful or abusive content.

But since taking over Twitter last month, Musk has cut around half of Twitter's workforce, including many employees tasked with fighting disinformation, while an unknown number of others have quit.

He has also reinstated previously banned accounts, including that of former president Donald Trump.

Describing himself as a "free speech absolutist," Musk believes that all content permitted by law should be allowed on Twitter, and has described his actions as a "revolution against online censorship in America."