The Twitter boss previously issued a series of tweets accusing Apple of censorship and abuse of a dominant position. Apple has basically stopped advertising on Twitter, Musk explained, asking, "Do you hate free speech in America?"

When asked by a user if Apple was threatening Twitter's availability in the App Store or making demands for content moderation, Musk replied "yes." A request from the AFP news agency to Apple was initially not answered.

The Tesla boss wants to relax content moderation on Twitter. He recently reinstated Donald Trump's suspended Twitter account and controversial Twitter profiles, including those of psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative transgender parody site Babylon Bee.

Musk took over Twitter at the end of October for 44 billion dollars (around 43 billion euros) and immediately fired the top floor. A week later, he fired around half of the 7,500 employees. According to independent organization Media Matters, half of the top 100 advertising partners have now suspended or "apparently suspended" their ads on the network over concerns about the development. In particular, the question is how Twitter will proceed against hate messages and the spread of false news in the future.