Apple has ignited yet another battle with Facebook...Meta...FaceMeta.
Yesterday, Apple announced that it will begin charging developers the 30% commission on in-app purchases that offer “sales of ‘boosts’ for posts in a social media app.” The move was an obvious shot at Meta who, across Facebook and Instagram, allow social media accounts to increase engagement with their posts by paying the company.
Such a rule would now entitle Apple to 30% of the money Meta makes when a user pays to boost one of their posts, and the company is obviously not happy about it. In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Tom Channick said that "Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow their own business while undercutting others in the digital economy. Apple previously said it didn’t take a share of developer advertising revenue, and now apparently changed its mind. We remain committed to offering small businesses simple ways to run ads and grow their businesses on our apps.”
Meta has a point here and Apple stepping in without warning to steal away 30% of an advertising revenue stream seems...gross.
Apple is going full-in on ads
In the same week that Apple announced the new revenue split on in-app advertising purchases, the company also rolled out more ads in its App Store.
The reception to this has been horrible. Not only is the App Store more cluttered with ads, but the ads being shown in certain areas are downright disgraceful. Multiple users took to social media to show that, in some cases, apps for those seeking therapy were being shown ads for a gambling app. Some children's apps were showing ads for an adult video chat app.
Apple has seemed to have jumped the gun on this effort and not taken the time to ensure that ads were being shown to appropriate users. Nearly everyone in the tech community has voiced their anger or disappointment that Apple, a company that prides itself on privacy and protecting its users, could make such a blunder.
