What Elon Musk gets wrong about Apple App Store fees

Published May 12, 2022 12:00am ET



Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter has some in the throes of ecstasy and others fearing a social media apocalypse. But, whatever happens, it’s good news that the market is working on experimenting and evolving. As yet another court said this week, Twitter is not the government and therefore can police content as it likes without violating anyone’s constitutional rights.

This distinction between private and public is just as critical when considering Musk’s accusation that the Apple App Store commission fee is a “30% tax on the Internet” and “literally 10 times higher than it should be.” Musk is surely entitled to his opinion, but legislative proposals interfering with Apple’s private business deals are detrimental to private property rights, innovation, and the proper functioning of free markets.

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