Elon Musk Wants Apple to Lower Fees for 'X' Creators

Twitter or "X" CEO Elon Musk today said that he plans to speak with Apple CEO Tim Cook about lower App Store fees for creators who earn money through subscriptions on the Twitter/X social network.

In a post on creator support, Musk said that he plans to ask Apple to collect 30 percent of the creator fee that Twitter keeps rather than 30 percent of the total fee that a creator on Twitter earns. That would potentially give Apple a much lower cut of the money that Twitter is paying out to creators.

Musk said that Twitter does not plan to collect any fees from creators who earn under $100,000. After the $100k mark, Twitter will collect 10 percent of a creator's earnings, though the first 12 months will be free for all creators. If Apple agreed, Apple would be entitled to 30 percent of the 10 percent cut that Twitter takes from creators earning more than $100k.

Apple collects in-app purchase fees from subscription purchases that are made through the Twitter app on iOS devices. Apple earns 30 percent for the first year of a subscription, and 15 percent for each subsequent year. Apple takes the same cut of all digital purchases on the ‌App Store‌, and the Cupertino company is not known for making exceptions to its rules.

Musk's request would not work with the current in-app purchase setup as Apple is collecting its fee from each subscriber who pays a creator rather than from the creator directly.

Facebook has protested the fee that Apple collects from the Facebook subscription option for creators, but Apple has not changed its policies. Facebook instead encourages people to support creators by subscribing on the web rather than on a mobile device, which is a method that Musk could use to limit the fees that Apple takes.

Musk has in the past criticized Apple's App Store fees, calling the cut that Apple collects "definitely not ok" and likening it to a "30% tax on the internet."