“Lays Bare Meta’s Hypocrisy”: Apple’s Swipe At Mark Zuckerberg’s Company

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Meta recently announced plans of charging nearly 50 per cent on all metaverse transactions

Facebook's parent company Meta recently announced its plans of charging nearly 50 percent on all metaverse purchases and sales, drawing criticism from fellow tech giant Apple. Meta announced on Monday, in a blog post, that it will start allowing a select number of creators on its Horizon Worlds metaverse to start selling virtual items. The company also stated that it would be taking a 47.5 percent cut on each of the transactions –  a “hardware platform fee” of 30 percent through its Meta Quest Store with a 17.5 percent cut in Horizon Worlds itself. 

“We think it's a pretty competitive rate in the market. We believe in the other platforms being able to have their share,” Vivek Sharma, Meta's vice president of Horizon, told The Verge.

The announcement drew immediate flak from other developers over the exorbitant rates. Other NFT and digital asset marketplaces like OpenSea and LooksRare charge only 2 percent and 2.5 percent respectively on each transaction. 

Apple, which has drawn criticism from Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg over its own in-app monetization practices, was quick to take a swipe. Apple charges its developers a 30 percent cut on all in-app purchases made from the AppStore, which remains the only official way for users to download apps on the iOS ecosystem. 

“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30 percent 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