Tim Cook is not ready to give up on Twitter.
The Apple CEO joined the social network 10 years ago as the company launched the iPhone 5s. He's been relatively active on the account ever since, promoting Apple products as well as social issues, such as LGBTQ equality. And despite the controversies that have developed since Elon Musk took over Twitter last year, Cook appears to be sticking with the platform.
"I like the concept that it's there for discourse and there is a town square," Cook said in a recent interview with CBS This Morning. "There's also some things about it I don't like."
When questioned about antisemitic content on Twitter, Cook says "it's abhorrent, just point blank. There's no place for it." When asked if Apple should stop advertising on Twitter (now known as X), the Apple CEO says "it's something we constantly ask ourselves," though he didn't say what the company has concluded.
Apple reportedly spent $48 million on Twitter ads in Q1, according to The Washington Post or nearly 4% of Twitter's revenue for the quarter, 9to5Mac notes.
Musk has tangled with organizations that have tried to call out the antisemitic and racist content that proliferates on Twitter. The company sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) last month after it published a report arguing that the company is failing to crack down on offensive tweets. Musk then threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a group that gave Cook its Courage Against Hate Award in 2018.
Musk got into a short-lived spat with Apple last year as he tried to roll back content moderation on Twitter to prioritize free speech. Apple and Google require social media apps to have content moderation, or risk being pulled from their respective app stores. Musk clamed Apple "threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store" and asked if "they hate free speech in America?”
After a conversation with Cook (and a visit to Apple HQ), Musk backtracked and said "Tim was clear that Apple never considered" pulling Twitter from the App Store.
In his CBS interview, meanwhile, Cook was asked about operating in regions with laws that conflict with Apple's values, like Texas, which has passed anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ legislation.
"There will always be cases where we're either selling or operating in a place where we have a difference of opinion on something," he says. "We believe in being a part of the community and trying to advocate for change rather than pulling the mode up and going away."
Just don't look for him on Instagram. Last month, Instagram removed an account impersonating Cook, but not before it fooled several high-profile execs.
