Elon Musk calls Apple’s App Store charges a ‘de facto global tax on the Internet’

Elon Musk has had a busy Friday on Twitter. After flatly denying that he has ever spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook in response to a wild story alleging he demanded to take over as the corporate’s CEO as a part of an acquisition provide, Musk has now tweeted his help of Epic Games’ battle in opposition to Apple over App Store insurance policies.

“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet,” he said. “Epic is right.”

Epic is presently embroiled in a authorized battle with Apple, arguing that its App Store guidelines, which permit Apple to take a 30 p.c fee on many transactions on the App Store, are unfair and anti-competitive.

Perhaps aiming to make the most of the large highlight Musk is bringing to the battle by tweeting about it to his 58.7 million followers, CEO Tim Sweeney, who has been a vocal opponent of Apple on Twitter, posted his newest salvo in opposition to the iPhone maker simply 25 minutes after Musk’s tweet. “In the future all physical goods will have a digital presence, and Apple will tax and gatekeep world commerce,” Sweeney said. “Apple must be stopped.”

Apple and Epic haven’t replied to a request for remark.

Epic confronted off with Apple in courtroom for a lot of the month of May, and whereas we’re nonetheless awaiting a verdict on the lawsuit, the trial itself revealed all types of fascinating info. Epic has additionally filed an antitrust swimsuit in opposition to Google over Play Store insurance policies, although that case is transferring extra slowly.