SAN FRANCISCO — In a sequence of tweets on Monday, Elon Musk, the proprietor of Twitter, accused Apple of sabotaging his social media firm by reducing again promoting and threatening to take away the Twitter app from the App Retailer.
By Wednesday, any potential feud appeared to have been prevented.
On Twitter, Mr. Musk posted a video of himself being proven round Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., on Wednesday, strolling previous a meditation pool. Whereas the video didn’t present whom Mr. Musk was strolling with, Apple staff stated that they had seen Mr. Musk with Tim Prepare dinner, Apple’s chief government. Mr. Musk stated in a later put up that he and Mr. Prepare dinner had mentioned their dispute.
“We resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter probably being faraway from the App Retailer,” Mr. Musk stated in a tweet. “Tim was clear that Apple by no means thought of doing so.”
Apple declined to remark. Mr. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The assembly appeared to sidestep what had threatened to turn out to be a giant spat between two of tech’s titans. Mr. Musk had taken purpose at Apple’s energy over the App Retailer, which is the one distributor of apps on multiple billion iPhones worldwide. His complaints — about Apple’s insurance policies for approving apps and its observe of taking a reduce of the sale of apps — resurrected a problem that had been raised by different firms, corresponding to Spotify and Epic Video games. Lawmakers and regulators all over the world have been scrutinizing Apple’s energy over software program distribution.
Underneath Mr. Musk, who took over in October, Twitter’s content material insurance policies have been unclear, probably placing the app at odds with Apple, which opinions each app distributed by way of the App Retailer.
Mr. Musk has reinstated the account of former President Donald J. Trump, which was banned after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, and has stated he’ll provide amnesty to accounts suspended by the corporate’s earlier management. However Apple’s guidelines prohibit hateful speech or content material. The corporate additionally polices apps to make sure that they use its in-app cost system to gather subscriptions, which permits Apple to gather as a lot as 30 p.c of gross sales.
Prior to now, Apple has raised issues with builders that defy these insurance policies and slowed down approval of their apps for distribution. Mr. Musk stated on Monday that Apple had threatened to do the identical with Twitter with out telling the social media firm why.
Mr. Prepare dinner gave Mr. Musk the tour earlier than a scheduled journey to Washington, the place he’s set to fulfill with a number of Republican lawmakers, together with Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, in line with an individual with data of the matter. A battle with Mr. Musk had threatened to complicate these conferences as a result of he accused Apple of making an attempt to censor “free speech” by limiting Twitter’s distribution on iPhones — a problem in Congress, the place Republican leaders are involved that Silicon Valley firms suppress conservative views.
Mr. Prepare dinner has used allure offensives earlier than. After Mr. Trump criticized Apple in 2018 for manufacturing its merchandise abroad, Mr. Prepare dinner traveled to Washington to fulfill with him and joined a White Home advisory panel. Mr. Trump later deserted his criticisms of Apple and praised Mr. Prepare dinner as a “nice government as a result of he calls me and others don’t.”
David McCabe contributed reporting.
