Top companies at odds with Apple over 30% ‘tax’: What they say and all you need to know – Times of India

Elon Musk has been critical of Apple charging up to 30% ‘tax’ for all purchases through its system and in-app transactions. Twitter’s new boss has now mounted his attack on the iPhone maker ahead of the ‘second release’ of the new Blue subscription for which he will charge $8 for a Verified account.
The timing of the attack gains significance because in order to keep the app available on App Store, Twitter will now have to pay up to a 30% cut of the Blue subscription revenue to Apple as per the App Store rules. It is clear that Musk doesn’t want that to happen and he joined the list of companies that have spoken against the infamous Apple ‘tax’. Here we list the top companies, including Twitter, that have spoken against the company’s business model.
Earlier this year, Musk completed Twitter’s acquisition in a $44 billion deal to become the new owner. Since then, companies have paused advertising on the platform citing various concerns. In one of his latest tweets, Musk asked Apple CEO Tim Cook why the company has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.
He later claimed that the Tim Cook-led company threatened to withhold Twitter from the App Store “but won’t tell us why.” The “Chief Twit” shared a meme suggesting that he will “go to war” with the company over the 30% cut it takes from app developer’s earnings.

With iOS 16.1 release, Apple updated its App Store policy, asking developers for a 30% cut on “sales of ‘boosts’ for posts in a social media app.” The policy hit Meta, which is the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram. These two social media apps allow users to pay a certain sum to boost their posts’ reach. With the rule change, Meta will have to pay a 30% cut to Apple from its earnings through ‘boosts’.
Previously, Meta complained about Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. A company spokesperson told The Verge, “Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow its 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.”

Like Musk, Spotify has also spoken against Apple’s App Store rules. Last month the company alleged that the iPhone maker “continues to stand in the way of the company’s and other developers’ abilities to provide a seamless user experience. It went on to say that its restrictions hurt both creators and consumers alike.”
The music streaming app was talking about Apple’s “anti-competitive behaviour” in charging up to a 30% cut for the in-app purchases of its audiobooks – a feature it launched in September with over 3,00,000 books.
“The Audiobooks purchase flow that Apple’s rules force us to provide consumers today is far too complicated and confusing — confusing because they change the rules arbitrarily, making them impossible to interpret. Bottom line, we’re forced to make users work even harder to listen to an audiobook. This harms not only consumers, but, this time, also authors and publishers who now find themselves under Apple’s thumb,” Spotify said in a blog post.
Epic Games vs Apple is one of the infamous cases that attracted eyeballs globally. Epic, the maker of Fortnite, sued both Apple and Google alleging that the Silicon Valley giants were breaking antitrust laws by forcing app developers to pay a 30% cut of all transactions. Both Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their app stores because Epic asked gamers to not follow the stores’ rules and pay it directly.
Tinder-owner Match Group
Earlier this year, Match Group – the company that owns and manages Tinder and numerous dating companies globally – reportedly filed an antitrust case with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Reuters news agency reported that Match accused Apple of ‘monopolistic conduct’ and forcing app developers to pay commissions for in-app purchases.
The Indian watchdog has reportedly clubbed the Match case with other antitrust probes underway against Apple.