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Facebook Finds New Way to Avoid Apple's In-App Purchases With Creator Subscription Links

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced changes to Facebook's "Subscriptions" tool, which will see Facebook testing Apple's App Store guidelines in an effort to secure more money for content creators.

Facebook-Feature.jpg

With Subscriptions, content creators can allow their fans to sign up to pay them a monthly subscription fee, similar to Patreon. Going forward, Facebook is implementing a "promotional link" in the Facebook app for iOS that will allow Facebook users to subscribe to content creators without using Apple's in-app purchase system.

Zuckerberg said that Facebook wants to unlock "opportunities for creators to make more money" as it builds for the metaverse, and "the 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that."

Facebook plans to offer the "promotional link" alongside in-app purchase options for subscriptions, and when people subscribe to creators using the Facebook link, creators are able to keep all of the money they earn without providing a 30 percent cut to Apple. From a blog post explaining the feature:
Earlier this year, as part of our commitment to supporting creators, we shared that Facebook would not collect any fees from creators on Subscriptions purchases until 2023, at the earliest. Creators, however, must still forfeit 15-30% of their earnings to companies like Apple whenever people purchase Subscriptions within the Facebook app on mobile devices. For recurring payments like subscriptions, this adds up quickly since that fee is paid every single month.

Starting today, we're offering creators the ability to direct people to a website to complete their Subscriptions purchase using Facebook Pay. When people purchase Subscriptions from this website on web or mobile, creators will be able to keep 100% of the money they earn, excluding taxes. Creators can find their personalized promotional link in Creator Studio, which they can share with their audiences, including over email or text.
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It is unclear if Facebook's new Subscriptions payment alternative is entirely in line with Apple's App Store guidelines, but a Facebook spokesperson told The Verge that Facebook believes the approach that it's offering has "always been allowed on iOS."

Apple does not allow apps to offer alternative payment options for digital goods at the time, but Facebook is skirting this rule because creators are having people pay via the web, not Facebook, so it's a something of a gray area.

Facebook is also launching a bonus program to pay creators for each new subscriber added through the custom web link to encourage creators to sign up, and it is providing tools that will show creators how much of their earnings are going to fees from Apple and Google.

facebook-subscriber-incentives.jpg

Apple recently made changes to its App Store rules that will see "reader" apps allowed to offer links for account signups outside of the App Store and that will allow developers to use communication methods like email to tell customers about alternative payment options. Apple may also be forced to implement further changes that would allow all developers to offer alternate payment links as a result of a ruling in the ongoing Epic v. Apple legal battle.

Article Link: Facebook Finds New Way to Avoid Apple's In-App Purchases With Creator Subscription Links
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/03/facebook-creator-subscription-links/
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Apple does not allow apps to offer alternative payment options for digital goods at the time, but Facebook is skirting this rule because creators are having people pay via the web, not Facebook, so it's a something of a gray area.

Facebook's entire business model is one big gray area, where greed intersects with an absence of morality and ethics.
 
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Reactions: chilly willy, FriendlyMackle, mabhatter and 28 others
What doesn’t FB or Epic or the others get that even if they have their own payment setup that they are still going to be invoiced for the commission that Apple deserves. They are going to all this trouble to have a third part payment capability meanwhile they will still have to pay. It’s pretty funny how they are trying to make this about not paying.
 
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This. is not epic going in war with Apple.
Nor is it Facebook going to war.

It has very likely been approved by apple before made public.
 
FB..”hey so we are allowed third party payment system”..Apple/Google:..”ya so”…”so why are we being invoiced?”..”you still have to pay your share for this awesome secure private platform”..”but but but I thought the third party payment eliminated that?”..”Where’d you get that idea from lol!”
 
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The big problem here is that a company like Facebook wants to create as much money as possible by doing as little work as possible. Didn't it ever occur to Zuckerberg some ten years ago that perhaps, you know, hey, why don't we build our own store? Too late for that and too late for rebranding as 'Metaverse' - what does that even mean?

Wikipedia: The term arose in the early 1990s, and has come to be criticised as a method of public relations building using a purely speculative, "over-hyped" concept based on existing technology.

Facebook is sunk as a company. It only lives on with a dwindling pile of cash made through selling people's data and a privacy policy that is in shreds. Zuck and his top cohorts weren't smart enough to build for tomorrow - they were too greedily focused on the spoils gained through advertising.

Facebook doesn't 'make' anything. They just have a bare-bones infrastructure of code in place that is occupied by billions of users who (by posting and interacting with each other) create all the wealth for the company.
 
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fumi2014 said:
The big problem here is that a company like Facebook wants to create as much money as possible by doing as little work as possible. Didn't it ever occur to Zuckerberg some ten years ago that perhaps, you know, hey, why don't we build our own store? Too late for that and too late for rebranding as 'Metaverse' - what does that even mean?

Wikipedia: The term arose in the early 1990s, and has come to be criticised as a method of public relations building using a purely speculative, "over-hyped" concept based on existing technology.

Facebook is sunk as a company. It only lives on with a dwindling pile of cash made through selling people's data and a privacy policy that is in shreds. Zuck and his top cohorts weren't smart enough to build for tomorrow - they were too greedily focused on the spoils gained through advertising.

Facebook doesn't 'make' anything. They just have a bare-bones infrastructure of code in place that is occupied by billions of users who (by posting and interacting with each other) create all the wealth for the company.
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Amazing how much ignorance you fit into one post.
 
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Reactions: TiggrToo, FriendlyMackle, BiscoDino and 12 others
I predict Apple will announce @ the 11th Hour that they are reducing their cut to 7.5% for ALL transactions across the board !

When precisely is the 11th Hour is the BIG question !
 
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