Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday criticised Apple’s App Store fees, siding with Epic Games in the Apple vs. Epic Games row.

“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet. Epic is right,” Musk said in a tweet.

Further explaining his stance in his reply to one of his Twitter followers, Musk wrote, “Actually, I like and use Apple products. They are just obviously overcharging with App Store. I mean 30% fees for doing almost zero incremental work is completely unreasonable.”

“Epic wouldn’t bother processing their own payments if App Store fees were fair. Normally, competitive pressure would force Apple to lower fees, but Apple and Android have a duopoly on phones. When interface familiarity is taken into account, it’s basically a monopoly. The effective 30% sales tax Apple charges is hidden from users or there would be an outcry,” Musk further wrote.

When asked if Apple should allow third party app payments, the Tesla CEO termed it a security issue, adding that allowing companies to use other payment options, especially for in-app purchases would be fair.

“As soon as they allowed that, they would have to lower their fees. As for the cost of reviewing apps for security, a fixed fee makes sense,” Musk said.

Epic Games

Apple has been in a legal tussle with Epic Games since last year when the latter filed a lawsuit alleging Apple of abusing its market dominance in terms of mobile apps.

This had been in retaliation to Apple banning the popular video game Fortnite from the App Store after its creator, Epic snuck in an update that allowed users to purchase in-game currency at a lower rate directly from its payments system bypassing the app stores’ payment system.

Apple has defended its App Store practices, both in court and to lawmakers in hearings on multiple occasions.

Separately, Musk denied a recent report stating that he once had a discussion with Apple CEO Tim Cook related to a possible acquisition of Tesla and the former taking over as the iPhone maker’s CEO.

“Indeed. Both Cook and I have been clear publicly that we have never spoken or otherwise communicated. I tried to speak to him and he declined. Nor have I ever expressed any interest in running Apple to anyone. Cook is, all things considered, obviously doing an incredible job,” Musk tweeted.

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