Meta says Apple "undercutting others" with new app store policies

On October 24, 2022, Apple quietly updated its app store policies to allow it to charge a 30% cut on sales "of 'boosts' for posts in a social media app."

This directly affects social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram that allow users to pay to boost the reach of their social media posts. Meta that owns both platforms, spoke out against Apple's new rules accusing the technology giant of "undercutting others in the digital economy."

“Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow their own business while undercutting others in the digital economy," said Meta spokesperson Tom Channick, in a statement shared with The Verge.

"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,” Channick added.

Boosting the reach of posts is common practice on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. This marks the first time Apple is directly taking a cut on advertising.

“For many years now, the App Store guidelines have been clear that the sale of digital goods and services within an app must use In-App Purchase,” Apple spokesperson Peter Ajemian said in the statement.

“Boosting, which allows an individual or organization to pay to increase the reach of a post or profile, is a digital service — so of course In-App Purchase is required. This has always been the case and there are many examples of apps that do it successfully,” added Ajemian.