Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently said that Apple has “mostly stopped” advertising on the social media platform and also threatened to kick out the app from the App Store without specifying a reason. He made several tweets targeting the iPhone maker. Musk hinted that Apple has censored free speech in the past and is trying to subdue his efforts too. He even ran a public poll on whether “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers”. More than 2.2 million people voted on the poll, with nearly 85 percent of them saying “Yes.”
Meanwhile, Apple’s head of social media advertising has responded to clarify why the company has cut down its ad spending on Twitter. According to the Apple executive, identified as “jordan” on Twitter, the iPhone maker is withdrawing its ads from the social media platform because of a “lack of engagement”. They say bot impressions are high, which doesn’t help ads. Musk previously said that removing bots from Twitter is one of his primary goals after taking over the company. It seems he hasn’t had much success in this effort yet.
The Apple executive also said that the company no longer trusts Twitter’s leadership. Elon Musk is currently at the helm of the company and he has been handling it rather chaotically. He has already fired the majority of Twitter employees and rushed to roll out several changes to the platform- only for those to fail, forcing a recall within days. There are fears of the social network biggie heading toward bankruptcy. Industry experts have also raised concerns about hefty fines over Musk’s chaotic handling of Twitter. His moderation policy changes and “free speech absolutist” stance have also become points of concern.
Apple is cutting down its ad spending on Twitter
Several advertisers are said to have stopped or cut down advertising on Twitter amid these concerns. Those include Apple, its biggest advertiser in the first quarter of this year. The company reportedly spent $48 million on ads on the social network during the first three months of 2022. That accounted for about four percent of Twitter’s revenue for the period.
But between November 10 and November 16, when things started going bad for Twitter, Apple only spent $131,600 on ads on the platform (via). That’s almost half of what it spent between October 16 and October 22 — the week before Elon Musk completed the company’s acquisition. Since ad sales account for about 90% of Twitter’s revenue, this is a big hit for it. No wonder Musk is pissed. He continues to take a dig at Apple and its App Store policies. But that won’t help him make money.
Meanwhile, Musk has suggested that he will jump against Apple into the smartphone market with his own mobile platform if Twitter is removed from the App Store and the Google Play Store. That might be a big “if,” but not something out of reach of the multi-billionaire. Saving Twitter from bankruptcy should still be his priority, though. We will keep you posted with all the developments around the social network as it goes through a massive transition.
2022-12-01 15:12:36