One month after taking control of Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk is still looking for a way to make the business of the red social be profitable. That is why, in a series of tweets, the richest man on the planet declared war on Tuesday against Apple, the most valued technology company, accusing it of having withdrawn its advertising from the platform, something that is unknown if it is true.
To understand why Musk has decided to target the manufacturer of the iPhone, iPad y Mac First you have to understand the problems that Twitter is going through. The tycoon acquired the social network a little over a month ago at a much higher price than it was valued at. Since its birth in 2006, Twitter has had profitability problems and has never achieved figures comparable to rivals such as Facebook, Instagram o Youtube.
loss of advertisers
Its business model is based on advertisingbut Musk wants to change that and boost revenue by subscriptions. The debt of more than 1,000 million that it contracted to be able to buy Twitter makes the need for the social network to start earning more money even greater. That is why it announced the launch of a payment plan of 8 dollars a month with which the user could buy a better experience on the social network as well as his blue account verification pin. That change not only failed to capture enough users, but also accelerated phishing, increasingly confusing users. These impersonations affected the reputation of many companies that advertised on Twitter.
The chaos generated forced Musk to stop that payment plan, but many companies began to withdraw or reduce their advertising investments on the platform, doubly hitting their business. Musk’s decision to rehabilitate previously suspended accounts and his cuts in content moderation staff on the platform have also led to an uptick in speeches from hatred, a situation that also makes brands uncomfortable, who prefer to live in digital spaces where debate is healthier. Thus, according to the American radio channel NPR, Twitter has already lost half of its main advertiserswhich in 2022 alone have spent 750 million dollars on the network.
What about Apple?
In the midst of this uncertain situation, Musk has gone on to charge Apple, accusing it of wanting to withdraw its advertising from Twitter. Although the Cupertino company has not confirmed this supposed intention, the reality is that if it decided to cancel its advertising investment, that would be a major setback for the social network. And it is that Apple allocates about 100,000 million dollars a year to advertise its products and services on the platform that Musk now leads, being a key source of income for the tycoon.
The key to the attack on Apple is in another matter. In 2008, the tech giant created the App Store, the digital store where you can download all kinds of applications for the iOS operating system, which is used by all the brand’s devices. Apple forces all developers who want to be in the App Store to pay a commission of up to 30%, a condition that multiple companies have denounced as an abuse of power and that regulators such as the European Union (EU) investigate. Although that commission is not “secret”, as Musk has falsely pointed out, it does directly affect the mogul’s plans to launch a paid version of Twitter. And it is that, after that commission, the 8 dollars a month that Musk wants to establish would remain at about 5.6 dollars per user, further limiting the impact of an already limited plan and putting its owner in trouble.