Musk calls Apple’s App Store fees a ‘tax’

Elon Musk has thrown in its hat in the ongoing legal battle between tech giant Apple and epic games, making the extremely popular Fortnite game, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes.

Musk came out on Epic’s side.

“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the internet,” the Tesla CEO tweeted Friday (July 30). “Epic is right.”

The lawsuit stems from Epic’s decision to circumvent Apple’s in-app payment system to find its own way for users to pay.

Seeing this as a violation of its policy, Apple banned Epic from the App Store and has been embroiled in Epic’s lawsuit ever since.

Epic has accused Apple of having a “monopolistic” grip on its field, as the App Store is the primary way for many users to buy new apps. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, has said in a federal lawsuit that ends in May that Apple is unfairly profiting from the work of those who make video games.

In response, Apple has defended its actions, saying the lawsuit was a “basic disagreement over money” on Epic’s part. The company said taking 30 percent of its profits is necessary to ensure that the App Store provides users with a generally safe way to download apps.

Musk has often shaken up the pot on social media, including criticizing rivals such as Amazon. WSJ reports that he recently appeared to praise the US Government Accountability Office for rejecting appeals to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space travel company over a contract to develop a lunar borrower.

He has also called for Amazon to split up earlier.

In July, Australia gave the green light for the Epic lawsuit against Apple to proceed. That overturned a previous ruling saying the case should be adjourned. Apple had blocked the lawsuit, saying it was a matter better suited to be handled only in the US