Elon Musk has slammed Apple for its App Store fee that it expenses from builders, in response to an article posted on Twitter in regards to the European Union’s contemporary antitrust criticism in opposition to the iPhone maker. Musk mentioned that it’s “definitely not ok” and likened the fee to a 30 % tax on the Internet. Last 12 months, the Tesla CEO publicly favoured Fortnite maker Epic Games within the lawsuit filed by it in opposition to Apple for allegedly abusing its dominance within the cellular apps market.

In a collection of tweets posted in response to the article highlighting his former firm PayPal’s reported position in spurring the most recent European Union’s case in opposition to Apple, Elon Musk expressed his disagreement with the App Store fee. He mentioned that it’s “literally 10 times higher than it should be.”

“Apple’s store is like having a 30 percent tax on the Internet. Definitely not ok,” he tweeted.

This was notably not the primary time when Musk confirmed his dissent with Apple and in contrast its App Store fee with a de facto world tax on the Internet. The billionaire in July final 12 months additionally mentioned that the 30 % price that the iPhone maker expenses from builders was “completely unreasonable.” He had additionally taken a dig at Apple throughout Tesla’s earnings name every week earlier than by calling its tech ecosystem a “walled garden.”

Musk’s criticism is not the one censure in opposition to Apple for its App Store fee. Regulators across the globe have, actually, pressured the corporate to transform on its charges that it expenses from builders for promoting subscriptions or in-app purchases on their apps via the App Store.

In 2020, Apple introduced the App Store Small Business Programme that got here into drive beginning the late December of the 12 months to scale back its fee to fifteen % for builders who earn as much as $1 million (roughly Rs. 7.63 crore) in annual gross sales of all their apps. Antitrust officers and lawmakers in numerous international locations are, although, but to be satisfied by the transfer.

Apple in February confronted a fourth advantageous within the Netherlands for failing to permit third-party cost methods for courting apps on the App Store. Last 12 months, South Korea additionally warned of a potential investigation into the corporate’s compliance over the restriction of permitting cost options apart from its personal.

Nevertheless, Musk’s combat with Apple will not be restricted to the App Store fee. He again in 2015 called the corporate the “Tesla Graveyard” — for hiring the carmaker’s engineers to work on what’s lengthy rumoured because the Apple Car.