The Apple taxation controversy has been brought up once more by Elon Musk.
The billionaire recently posted on Wednesday that he intended to talk with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the issue. The discussion will centre on whether it’s possible to change Apple’s absurdly high 30% commission rate for in-app purchases, which is currently the norm.
Apple currently imposes a 30% cut on all iOS in-app purchases, involving subscriptions offered by inventors through websites like Twitter or X. Musk calls for a revision to this rule, arguing that instead of keeping the entire transaction amount as commission, Apple should keep only a 30% cut of the money paid to Twitter.
Musk also disclosed that Twitter is changing the way it handles commission payments from creators. With the new policy, Twitter will only apply a 10% cut once payouts reach $100,000 rather than taking a cut of 10% of the revenue from subscriptions after 12 months. In other words, Twitter won’t take any money from creators’ earnings during the first 12 months.
Notably, Musk compared Apple’s fees to a “hidden 30% tax on the Internet” last year and delayed the release of Twitter Blue for iOS to avoid the fees levied by Apple.
Musk claimed in a statement at the time that Apple had threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the App Store. But Cook clarified that it appeared to be an oversight during a personal visit to Apple’s headquarters.
Whether Apple will change its policies to address the billionaire’s concerns is still an open question. Apple has occasionally given certain apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Kindle exceptions, in spite of facing difficulties from organisations like Epic Games and Fortnite.
They were able to link to outside websites to create user accounts thanks to these exemptions. Even so, this action was taken as a result of legal backlash from developers and inquiries by Japanese regulators.
