Facebook joins the crusade against Apple.
The social media giant on Friday accused Apple of slashing small businesses with its lengthy 30-percent in-app commission fee. The charge comes a day after Epic Games, the maker of video game maker Fortnite, filed an lawsuit against Apple for anti-competitive behavior.
The jab from Facebook came when it introduced a new set of tools for small businesses, including a “Paid Online Events” feature that allows companies around the world to upload Facebook users to attend online events, such as wine tasting classes or courses . For now, Facebook will not pay any fees for using this feature, citing the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on small businesses.
As part of the reboot, Facebook said that Apple would not allow Facebook to process the payments independently for Apple iOS users, meaning that some in-app purchases would still be below the 30 percent fee.
Google, the maker of the Android operating system, said it would allow Facebook to process payments through its own system and avoid similar fees.
“We are asking Apple to reduce their 30% App Store tax or allow us to offer Facebook Pay so that we can absorb all costs for companies that struggle during COVID-19. Unfortunately, they have rejected our requests and SMBs will only 70% of them are paid hard earned income, “wrote Fiji Simo, head of the Facebook app, in a blog post announcing the new features.
An Apple spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fees that Apple charges for money flowing through its app store have been the source of criticism for years, but ongoing anti-trust investigations in the US and Europe have made it a particularly sensitive topic for the iPhone maker.
But until Thursday, most of those battles were between Apple and far smaller companies, with music streaming service Spotify the largest company to push back on the scheme. Now Apple is suddenly up against one of the largest makers of video games in the world and Facebook, one of the few tech companies that Apple can compete in terms of size and resources.
Both Apple and Google have been criticized by developers for the commission costs they pay for certain in-app purchases, which are often as high as 30 percent.
The primary complaint of the developers is that the power of Apple and Google over the app marketplace can impose a random tax on developers and their own apps benefit from those of their competitors.
“The problem here is not whether 30 percent or 15 percent is ‘honest’, but that there is no store or payment-based competition on Apple devices,” Matthew Ball, the media strategist and former global strategist for Amazon Studios, said about Apple’s policy.
“This means that the rates that Apple sets, and the policies that they maintain, are not determined by the market, but rather simply by Apple – one of the most powerful companies in history,” he said.
This week, Epic Games became the first company to take action against Apple and Google over this policy. On Thursday, Epic implemented its own in-app payment system for Fortnite, the massively popular video game, to effectively convert the fees of 30 percent. Apple and Google responded by removing the Fortnite app completely from their systems.
Epic responded by prosecuting Apple, claiming in its lawsuit “to end Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive actions.” Epic has not filed a similar lawsuit against Google.
For Facebook, Friday’s digging on Apple also has a personal meaning.
For more than a decade, the two giants of Silicon Valley have been arguing over different policy approaches. Apple executives, including Steve Jobs and current CEO Tim Cook, have often criticized Facebook for abusing user data and abusing privacy.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook managers have praised themselves for keeping their product free for users and providing new, free services not only for the average user, but for entrepreneurs. Friday’s indictment against Apple was another chance to cast itself as the friend of small businesses.
