' Hypocrisy: ' Apple Blasts Facebook' s 50% Zuck Tax on Metaverse Sales

Lucas NolanApril 16, 2022

Tech giant Apple recently responded to reports that Facebook (now known as Meta) will be taking a nearly 50 percent commission on purchases made in the Metaverse, calling the move “hypocritical.”

MacRumors reports that Apple has responded to Facebook’s 47.5 percent digital purchase commission within the Metaverse, calling it “hypocritical.” A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC that the company will take an overall cut of as much as 47.5 percent on each transaction, which includes a “hardware platform fee” of 30 percent for sales made via the Meta Quest store and a Horizon Worlds fee of 17.5 percent.

Mark Zuckerberg introduces Meta (Facebook)

Apple’s Tim Cook got big pay bump in 2018: filing (Noah Berger/AFP)

In comparison to Facebook, NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and LooksRare take a two to 2.5 percent cut of each transaction. NFTs have been growing in popularity in recent months, with individuals purchasing digital art and real estate in virtual worlds on platforms such as Decentraland and The SandBox.

Meta’s VP of Horizon, Vivek Sharma, said in a statement to the Verge: “We think it’s a pretty competitive rate in the market. We believe in the other platforms being able to have their share.”

Now, Apple has commented on the situation with company spokesperson Fred Sainz telling Marketwatch that Facebook is being hypocritical by complaining about Apple’s platform fees while charging creators much more. Sainz stated:

Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn,” Apple spokesman Fred Sainz stated in an email to MarketWatch. “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 while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly criticized the Apple App Store’s 30 percent commission for in-app purchases, stating that they are anti-competitive and monopolistic.