Apple has hit back at Meta after it announced that it will charge an almost 50% commission fee on virtual sales in its metaverse Horzion Worlds. Meta had constantly called out Apple for charging a 30% commission fee for purchases in App Store while charging a much higher rate to creators themselves.
The irony is not lost on creators who have complained about the exorbitant commission rates that Meta intends to charge them over virtual items, which will eventually include NFTs as well. Other NFT marketplaces like OpenSea charge just a 2.5% commission fee on sales of virtual items.
Apple points out Meta’s hypocrisy
Apple has taken note of the announcement and shared its opinion regarding Meta’s hypocrisy, specifically calling out how the social media company wants to use Apple’s platform for free while charging small creators and businesses significantly more than any industry standard.
Apple spokesman Fred Sainz told MarketWatch in an email:
“Meta has repeatedly 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 at every turn. Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta’s] announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said back in November that Apple’s 30% commission makes it hard for creators to make money from their work:
“As we build for the metaverse, we’re focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work. The 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that, so we’re updating our subscriptions product so now creators can earn more.”
As per MarketWatch, Blockparty CEO Vladislav Ginzburg also called out Meta’s hypocrisy:
“Facebook keeps all media uploaded to it, retains all user data and owns every step of the process to sell to marketers. Rather than enable creators to share in the value they bring to Facebook, their goal is to take half of the sale. No thanks.”
So far, there are not any creators that have expressed support for Meta’s commission rate. The industry standard on virtual sales has been 30%, which goes down to 15% for most creators and developers over time. It seems unlikely that creators and developers would be able to digest a 47.5% commission rate, which would leave them with less than half of the revenue, especially after tax deductions.
