Elon Musk Calls App Store Fees ‘De Facto Global Tax,’ Says Epic ‘Is Right’

BY Sanuj Bhatia

Published 30 Jul 2021

Earlier today, reports of Elon Musk asking Tim Cook to become Apple’s CEO took over the internet. However, shortly after the news broke, Elon Musk clarified that he hasn’t said anything regarding becoming Apple’s CEO to Tim Cook. He even said that he hasn’t talked to Tim Cook yet.

Just a few minutes after this saga ended, Elon Musk shifted his focus towards Apple App Store and all the ‘Epic’ controversies related to it. He even went on to call App Store a “de facto global tax on the Internet” and said that Epic is right in the Epic Games vs. Apple battle.

Epic Games and Apple have been battling about the whole Fortnite fiasco for over two years now. Apple pulled Fortnite off the App Store and terminated the Epic Games developer account after it violated App Store guidelines and provided a direct payment method in Fortnite instead of Apple’s in-app purchasing system.

Musk’s comments essentially mean that App Store fees developers have to pay on every in-app purchase is a ‘global tax’ which otherwise shouldn’t be there. Apple has been getting a lot of heat over App Store practices over the past few months.

What’s your take on the whole Epic Games vs. Apple argument? Do you think Apple is right in charging developers a 10% fee for in-app purchases? How do you think Elon Musk’s comments affect the situation? Please drop a comment and let us know!