Daddy and son are fighting. Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced a new feature in its virtual reality video game where a limited number of in-app creators could begin to sell things like virtual accessories. The creators will fork over 47.5% of every sale to the two companies. Many creators were not happy with the heavy tax. Apple responded to Meta's announcement and pulled punches in a statement to MarketWatch. Meta has taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store, and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat. Meta wants to charge creators more than any other platform. Meta's hypocrisy is laid bare in the announcement. The company said in a statement that they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own. The founder of Facebook personally posted about Apple's hefty commission on his own Facebook Pages in November 2021, and introduced a mechanism for Meta creators to subvert Apple's fee system. The Zuck's company is poised to exceed the Apple tax by more than one half.
Apple has been harangued by Meta for its 30% transaction fee. In a company blogpost from August 2020, Fidji Simo, then a Facebook vice president, wrote, "We hope Apple will consider permanently changing its requirements for apps to use its payment processing platform as well as reduce the associated 30% tax." They dismissed our requests.
On Tuesday, the vice president of Meta's Horizon told The Verge that the 47.5% total fee was a pretty competitive rate.
Is 50:50 really a fair split for creators when it comes to meticulouslycoded and crafted butterfly wings? Apple doesn't think so.
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