Musk says he will talk to Tim Cook about Apple tax

Elon Musk to speak to Apple CEO Tim Cook to reduce App Store fee from 30% to 30% of what X keeps; X to take 10% from creators over $100K, none for first 12 months.

Elon Musk in a post on X said he will speak to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to see if the iPhone manufacturer will adjust its fee from 30% of all in-app purchases to just 30% of what X keeps to maximise the share of creators.

Musk said he wants to change this so that Apple only takes a 30% commission on the portion of the payout kept by X, thereby reducing pressure in the form of cuts on creators.

Musk also said that X, formerly Twitter, will also only take 10% from creators once the payout exceeds $100,000, while not taking any cuts for the first 12 months.

This is not the first time Musk has brought up the Apple tax, In November 2022, Musk called out the 30% cut levied by Apple on app store purchases while criticizing the Cupertino-based company’s move to cut ad spending on X, then Twitter. Musk had even threatened to withhold Twitter from the App Store, however, after a meeting with Tim Cook, he said it was some misunderstanding.

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Apple has also been criticised by app makers like game company Epic and Spotify, who argue that Apple’s cut in App Store purchases is unfair. Apple on its end has allowed app developers to link their apps to the web to sign up for apps, allowing developers to bypass its 30% cut.

Musk meanwhile has been trying to get more creators on X. Earlier in June, he announced the platform will soon begin paying verified content creators for ads in their replies, with the first payment block of around $5 million.