Facebook in conflict with Apple over Appstore Guidelines
The social media giant demands Apple remove restrictions on third-party apps.

2739/5000 Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ FB) is the latest company to conflict with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in conflict with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) over its App Store policies for in-app payments. Apple's rules for incoming payments have been scrutinized and criticized by software developers and regulators. Recently, Facebook introduced a feature that enables companies to host paid online events on its platforms. The social media company had asked Apple not to deduct the 30% fee; it always charges for in-app purchases so that the revenue can go to businesses. Apple then said it would not waive the fee. Facebook tried to keep its users informed of Apple's response to Apple's request. Apple blocked the update. Facebook wanted to inform its iOS users that Apple would continue to deduct the 30% update fee. "Unfortunately, Apple declined our transparency notice regarding their 30 percent tax, but we're still working on making that information available within the app experience," Facebook said in a statement. It remains unclear how exactly Facebook will relay the information to the iOS users. For the past few days, Apple has been very strict on apps explaining its App Store policies. For example, Spotify, Kindle and Netflix were recently blocked from informing their users that they can pay online and avoid the 30% fee. Apple has tried to keep this feature out of the public eye, and Facebook's attempt to publicly rate it may not have come in as it is intended. Apple's guidelines have created a lot of controversy among developers and tech companies. Facebook is the youngest of the companies to disagree with Apple over the 30% fee it charges on in-app purchases. Epic is currently in a lawsuit with the iPhone maker as the developer tried to bypass the 30% fee by introducing direct pay support in their Fortnite game. Apple responded by removing the game from the App Store, prompting Epic ton to open a lawsuit. Apple has since removed Epic Games from its App Store. This means that while those who downloaded the game can still access it, developers will no longer be able to add new apps or updates.





