Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter, has announced that he intends to discuss with Apple CEO Tim Cook the possibility of reducing App Store fees for creators who earn money through subscriptions on the X social network.
Musk’s proposal involves requesting Apple to apply a 30 percent cut only to the portion of the creator fee that Twitter retains, rather than taking 30 percent of the entire fee earned by a creator on the platform.
As part of Twitter‘s support for creators, Musk stated that they have no plans to collect any fees from creators earning less than $1,00,000. For those surpassing this threshold, Twitter would retain 10 percent of a creator’s earnings, but the first year would be fee-free for all creators.
If Apple agrees to the proposal, the company would be entitled to a 30 percent cut of the 10 percent fee that Twitter collects from creators earning over $100,000.
For those unaware, Apple currently collects an in-app purchase fees for subscription transactions made through the Twitter app on iOS devices. During the first year of a subscription, Apple takes 30 percent, and subsequently, 15 percent for each following year. Apple’s policy applies this fee to all digital purchases on the App Store, and the company is generally known for maintaining consistent rules without making exceptions.
However, Musk’s request may not align with the current in-app purchase setup, as Apple directly charges its fee from each subscriber paying a creator, rather than from the creator themselves.
In the past, Elon Musk has criticized Apple’s App Store fees, labeling the collected cut as “definitely not ok” and likening it to a “30% tax on the internet.”
Here’s the full text of Musk’s tweet:
Super Important to Support Creators!
If you can afford it, please subscribe to as many creators on this platform as you find interesting.
People from every corner of the world post incredible content on 𝕏, but often live in tough circumstances, where even a few hundred dollars a month changes their life.
While we had previously said that 𝕏 would keep nothing for the 12 months, then 10%, we are amending that policy to 𝕏 keeps nothing forever, until payout exceeds $100k, then 10%. First 12 months is still free for all.
Apple does take 30%, but I will speak with @tim_cook and see if that can be adjusted to be just 30% of what 𝕏 keeps in order to maximize what creators receive.
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Updated: 03 Aug 2023, 01:19 PM IST