The Apple App Store policy fiasco recently resulted in the formation of the Coalition for App Fairness last week, which included members such as Epic Games and even Spotify. While not part of the coalition, Facebook has also been pressuring the tech giant to change its stance to waiver its 30% fee in order to support small businesses and creators via the newly launched Facebook Live service. It appears that Apple has finally agreed to the request, but only temporarily.
The social media firm recently announced that Apple reversed its decision to include its charges for the online events hosted by Facebook Live. Therefore allowing the participants to earn all proceeds of their live streams through Facebook Pay, minus the aforementioned 30% fee. However, Facebook noted that this arrangement will last until 31 December 2020, and that this exception will not apply to gaming creators.
“This is a difficult time for small businesses and creators, which is why we are not collecting any fees from paid online events while communities remain closed for the pandemic,” stated the firm’s spokesperson Joe Osborne. “Apple has agreed to provide a brief, three-month respite after which struggling businesses will have to, yet again, pay Apple the full 30% App Store tax.”
The late December deadline provided by the iPhone maker is intended to give Facebook the time to implement in-app payments for these events and bring them into compliance with App Store rules, according to a report by TechCrunch. “The App Store provides a great business opportunity for all developers, who use it to reach half a billion visitors each week across 175 countries,” said Apple when approached by the site. “To ensure every developer can create and grow a successful business, Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone.”
(Source: TechCrunch)
