Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced a number of updates for its “Subscriptions” tool which will circumvent Apple’s App Store guidelines in an effort to “help creators make more money, earn a sustainable living and have more control over the businesses they build on Facebook.”
Facebook announces new promotional link to subscribe to content via Facebook Pay
With Subscriptions, users can support their favorite content creators through recurring monthly payments. Not only does this allow creators to recognize their biggest supporters but they can also choose to provide additional benefits to users like subscriber-only Lives, special discounts, or a subscriber-only Group.
As announced today, the social media giant is implementing a “promotional link” in the Facebook app for iOS that will allow users to subscribe to content creators using Facebook Pay, effectively bypassing Apple’s in-app purchase system.
When users purchase Subscriptions from the new “promotional link” Facebook plans to offer, creators will be able to keep 100% of the money they earn, excluding taxes. From a blog post explaining the feature:
Earlier this year, as part of our commitment to supporting creators, we shared that Facebook would not collect any fees from creators on Subscriptions purchases until 2023, at the earliest. Creators, however, must still forfeit 15-30% of their earnings to companies like Apple whenever people purchase Subscriptions within the Facebook app on mobile devices. For recurring payments like subscriptions, this adds up quickly since that fee is paid every single month.
Starting today, we’re offering creators the ability to direct people to a website to complete their Subscriptions purchase using Facebook Pay. When people purchase Subscriptions from this website on web or mobile, creators will be able to keep 100% of the money they earn, excluding taxes. Creators can find their personalized promotional link in Creator Studio, which they can share with their audiences, including over email or text.
Currently, we do not know if Apple will allow Facebook to stay on its platform as a spokesperson for the social media platform told The Verge that Facebook believes the option it is offering has “always been allowed on iOS.” However, until Apple comments on this matter, Facebook is assumably operating in a gray zone.
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