The Twitter Blue subscription service may not be available on iOS on its relaunch as Elon Musk is reportedly unwilling to pay Apple the 30% App Store fee for in-app purchases. The service was discontinued earlier this month after a slew of fake 'verified' accounts with the blue checkmark mushroomed on Twitter and spread fake news and misinformation. Twitter eventually deleted such accounts, but not before they wreaked havoc in the real world, confusing people and impacting the stock market.
The drama unfolded weeks after Elon Musk took over Twitter in a high-profile $44 billion deal and allowed people to buy the blue check for $8 per month. A few days after Twitter suspended the Blue subscription service, Elon Musk said that it will be relaunched on Nov. 29. However, it turned out to be too unrealistic a time frame to reintroduce Twitter Blue, with Musk reportedly telling Twitter employees last week that the service may not relaunch any time soon. Musk added to the confusion a couple of days later by abruptly changing his plans and saying the program could relaunch on Dec. 2 in a new avatar.
According to the Platformer and The Verge, Elon Musk won't relaunch Twitter Blue yet while the company figures out how to avoid the 30 percent App Store fee Apple charges for in-app purchases. The news is said to come from an insider with direct knowledge of the matter. While t report only concentrates on the Apple App Store, Twitter Blue could also face the same fate on Android, as Google also charges an identical fee for all Play Store purchases. If avoiding the fee is Musk's primary concern, the service may remain absent from both platforms for the foreseeable future.
Twitter Blue Is Not Relaunching Any Time Soon
Elon Musk has gone to war against Apple in recent weeks, falsely accusing Apple of levying a 'secret tax' on all App Store purchases and tweeting against the company's policies in a host of issues, many of which are entirely unrelated to Twitter. Musk has not apologized or retracted his statement, even after many users rightly pointed out that the fee is openly advertised to all developers and has been public knowledge for more than a decade. Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs originally announced the fee in 2008 before the App Store even went live. Apple does not charge a fee for free apps distributed through the App Store.
Apart from the App Store fee, Elon Musk has also been venting against Apple and its CEO Tim Cook for pulling the company's ads from Twitter. Enraged by Apple's decision, Musk shot out a series of tweets criticizing everything and everybody remotely associated with Apple and accusing the company of hating free speech in America. However, it's not just Apple that has recently pulled its ads from Twitter. Many other major advertisers have done the same, with most said to be waiting for a concrete policy on content moderation before deciding on a future course of action. The ongoing management issues at Twitter are not helping the company, either.
Source: Platformer, The Verge