Musk asks if Apple hates ‘free speech in America’ after Twitter advertising drop-off

Twitter owner Elon Musk publicly slammed Apple on Monday for suspending some of its advertising on the social media platform, asking if leaders of the tech company “hate free speech.”

“Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter,” Musk announced.

“Do they hate free speech in America?”

Musk called out Apple CEO Tim Cook in a second tweet, writing: “What’s going on here @tim_cook?”

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who acquired Twitter in a $44 billion deal closed last month, has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and promised to advocate for it using his ownership of the platform.

Racist language and misinformation have reportedly surged on Twitter since Musk’s acquisition, and left-leaning watchdog Media Matters for America found that 50 of Twitter’s leading 100 advertisers appear to have halted their work with the site.

Those 50 companies made up $750 million in spending on Twitter over the course of 2022, according to the analysis.

Musk claimed that Apple “has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”

The Hill has reached out to Apple for comment on the alleged threats.

Musk posted a parade of tweets criticizing Apple for its “monopoly” on tech products and its censorship of some language.

Content sharing and publishing platform LBRY posted over its official Twitter account that “Apple may make good products, but they have been opposed to free speech for some time.”

“During Covid, Apple demanded our apps filter some search terms from being returned. If we did not filter the terms, our apps would not be allowed in the store,” the account wrote in response to Musk’s question about Apple and free speech.

“Who else has Apple censored?” responded Musk.