Spotify, Epic Games get ally in Elon Musk in fight against Apple fees
Elon Musk's declaration of war on Apple in a series of tweets on Monday gives Spotify and Fortnite maker Epic Games a powerful ally in taking the tech giant to task over its 30% App Store fees.
Musk criticized the fee Apple charges software developers for in-app purchases, and posted a meme suggesting he was willing to "go to war" rather than pay the levy. Musk also suggested Apple had threatened to block Twitter from its app store, although he did not explain why.
Spotify has previously submitted antitrust complaints against the iPhone-maker in Europe, and Epic Games sued Apple in the United States in 2020.
Since buying Twitter last month, Musk has unveiled plans to charge users $8 per month for getting verified on the social media platform to boost its profitability and avoid bankruptcy. A 30% cut on that would be a big dent to those plans.
The European Commission has been investigating whether Apple's rules for app developers violate its rules after Spotify filed an antitrust case against Apple in 2019.
Apple risks a fine as much as 10% of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Luke Suddards, analyst at investment insights firm Finimize, said Apple was "playing a dangerous game" by threatening to pull Twitter from its App Store.
"If Twitter was kicked off, there could be another lawsuit developing. We saw Elon Musk use the courts effectively during his Twitter purchase and it would be no surprise if he pursued the same strategy now."
Earlier this month, "Fortnite" video game maker Epic Games asked a three-judge U.S. federal appeals panel to overturn portions of a lower court antitrust ruling that largely favoured Apple and its App Store payment business.
Apple had said the commissions it gets help
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