Elon Musk has thrown his hat in the ring in the ongoing legal battle between tech giant Apple and Epic Games, which makes the ultra-popular Fortnite game, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes.
Musk came out on the side of Epic.
“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet,” the Tesla chief executive tweeted Friday (July 30). “Epic is right.”
The lawsuit stems from Epic’s decision to circumvent Apple’s in-app payment system to put out its own way for users to pay.
As Apple deemed this to be a violation of its policies, it banned Epic from its App Store and has since been engaged in the lawsuit filed by Epic over the matter.
Epic has accused Apple of possessing a “monopolistic” hold over its field, as the App Store is the primary way for many users to buy new apps. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, in a federal trial ending in May, has said Apple unfairly profits from the work of those who make video games.
In response, Apple has defended its actions, saying that the lawsuit was a “basic disagreement over money” from Epic’s side. The company said its taking of 30 percent of profits is necessary for putting that toward making sure the App Store provides a generally safe way for users to download apps.
Musk has often stirred the pot on social media, including criticizing rivals like Amazon. WSJ reports that he has recently seemed to praise the U.S. Government Accountability Office for rejecting appeals to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space travel company over a contract to develop a lunar lender.
He’s also called for Amazon to be broken up before.
In July, Australia gave a green light for the Epic lawsuit against Apple to move forward. That overturned a previous ruling saying that the case should be put on hold. Apple had blocked the suit, saying it was a matter better suited to be handled just in the U.S.
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