Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, re-attacked Apple in a series of tweets on Wednesday, claiming that the iPhone manufacturer "gives itself every advantage while at the same time impeding innovation and hurting consumers."
Four years ago, we filed a complaint detailing @Apple’s anticompetitive practices. Some context. https://t.co/IljYEaCydc
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) November 30, 2022
In his 21-tweet thread, Ek tagged a number of businessmen who shared his sentiments, including Musk, Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, and Andy Yen, the founder of Proton.
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, criticized Apple's in-app purchase fees on Monday and shared a meme suggesting he was willing to "go to war" rather than pay them. This also applies to his Twitter business.
In the past, Spotify has filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple in a number of jurisdictions, claiming that the 30% fee has compelled Spotify to "artificially raise" its own prices.
An inquiry for comment on Wednesday went unanswered by Apple. It has previously stated that the 30% cut it takes from transactions made through its App Store is used to safeguard customers against things like fraud and privacy.
On Wednesday, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, the company that created "Fortnite," tweeted that challenging Apple's "monopoly" was "an American issue beyond party politics."
"How much longer will we continue to ignore this danger to the internet's future? How many more consumers' choices will be restricted? There is a lot of discussion. While talk is useful, action is required "wrote Ek.
On Wednesday afternoon, Musk is scheduled to have a videoconference with European Commissioner Thierry Breton. The topic of their conversation is yet unknown. Prior to Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter, the two earlier met in Texas where they appeared to have reached a consensus on the direction of EU digital legislation.