Apple slams Meta hypocrisy over 50% metaverse fees

News
By Stephen Warwick
published

Mark Zuckerberg in front of the Facebook logo
Mark Zuckerberg in front of the Facebook logo (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Meta recently announced that it would charge almost 50% commission on transactions in its metaverse.
  • Apple has now spoken out against the company.
  • It says the move lays bare the hypocrisy of Facebook, which has publicly clashed with Apple over its much lower 30% rate.

Apple has slammed Meta's plans to charge a 47.5% rate of commission on transactions in its metaverse despite publicly berating Apple's much lower 30% rate.

On Thursday Apple's Fred Sainz told MarketWatch:

"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."

The plans Meta announced were reported earlier this week, from that report:

The artist formerly known as Facebook announced the sale of virtual items in the metaverse on Monday without mentioning fees. Now, as reported by CNBC:A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC Wednesday that Meta will take an overall cut of up to 47.5% on each transaction. That includes a "hardware platform fee" of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds, will charge a 17.5% fee.

That fee comes despite Meta (then Facebook) previously putting Apple on blast for charging 30% fees on transactions in the explicit context of the metaverse. "As we build for the metaverse, we're focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work," the company stated in November. "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."

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9