Apple is Twitter's biggest ad client, and has returned to advertising at its normal level according to Elon Musk -- but it's still not clear if it ever slowed down ad buys.
Elon Musk [Twitter]
On November 28, Twitter CEO Elon Musk engaged in a tweet-storm against Apple, including claims Apple had "mostly stopped advertising on Twitter." One week later, and Musk has changed his tune.
During a Twitter Spaces conversation caught by Bloomberg on Saturday, Musk said Apple has "fully resumed advertising on Twitter." Musk didn't say how much the advertising spend was for Apple, and didn't go much further on the topic, other than to say that Apple was the largest advertiser on the platform.
While Musk's comment may be triumphant, Apple hasn't officially commented on the matter itself.
On November 30, Media Matters for America released data appearing to demonstrate Apple's spending has been increasing since Musk took control. While there was a dip between November 8 and November 21, there wasn't a complete halt.
Even so, it was claimed Apple's daily spend on November 28 was $84,615.70, 2.6 times as much as one month prior.
Meanwhile, internal documents seen by the Washington Post on November 28 backs up Musk's top advertiser claim, with $48 million spent by Apple in the first quarter, accounting for more than 4% of revenue. However, this could easily be considered increased seasonal spending due to holiday sales, which could be far different from the rest of the year.
Musk's comments are a second stage of walk-back from his earlier tirade. Since the outburst, Musk has paid a visit to Apple Park, hosted by Apple CEO Tim Cook, then later said Apple never intended to remove Twitter from the App Store.