Twitter owner Elon Musk on Monday denounced Apple's threat to remove Twitter from the App Store without explanation. He also claims that "Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter" while Musk seeks to restore free speech on the platform.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, during a conference on Tuesday, spoke about Apple's alleged threat, explaining that it could warrant possible congressional action.
"You also hear reports that Apple is threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store, because Elon Musk is actually opening it up to free speech and is restoring a lot of accounts that were unfairly and legitimately suspended for putting out accurate information about covid" said DeSantis, a leading advocate on free speech. During the pandemic, numerous accounts were terminated on Twitter for providing information about the pandemic that were considered outside official channels.
Ron DeSantis pointed out that Elon Musk knows that suppressing accounts that exercise free speech is not the winning formula, in his opinion "Apple responds to that by nuking them from the App Store" said the governor. He added that, it would be a "huge, huge mistake" and a "raw exercise of monopolistic power that I think would merit a response from the United States Congress."
- Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 29, 2022
Musk continued to blow the lid off Apple's alleged threats and even ran a poll on Twitter asking users whether Apple "should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers." 84.7% of users voted yes.
Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
"This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead," Musk tweeted Monday.
This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2022
Apple restricts AirDrop use on iPhones of Chinese users
DeSantis comments against Apple removing Twitter from its App Store come in the wake of Apple restricting the use of AirDrop on Chinese iPhones after dissidents used it to communicate while avoiding the Communist regime's control. The Florida governor also lashed out in his speech against the 'covid zero' policy and human rights violations in China.
The Chinese Communist Party's "Zero COVID" policy is draconian, unscientific, and represents a gross violation of individual rights. The Chinese people are right to protest the maniacal impulse to exercise total control of the population which is the hallmark of the CCP regime. pic.twitter.com/pTMzG92u0U
- Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 29, 2022
Until Apple clipped its wings, AirDrop was one of the few reliable methods for Chinese users to securely and privately share files on the heavily policed and censored Chinese internet.
"There´s reports that Apple is not allowing the protesters to use this AirDrop function when they´re trying to communicate. That's obviously providing aid and comfort to the Chinese Communist Party," DeSantis said, calling the report "very concerning."
