Apple has waived the App Store commission for paid online events for the time being

Apple has provisionally adjusted its terms and conditions for the App Store, so that companies that offer online events for a fee no longer have to pay 30 percent in commission. Facebook had previously urged Apple to do this.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the news to several US media outlets, including The Verge. However, Facebook was the first to report that it no longer had to pay 30 percent commission on online events; the social media site has long been against Apple’s commission policy. Until now, however, Apple has not wanted to deviate from its policy of taking commission on payments made on iOS apps.

The new rules only apply to online events; all other purchases on iOS still require 30 percent to be paid to Apple. In addition, the exemption currently only applies to the remainder of 2020, whereby it is still unclear what Apple’s policy will be in 2021. The spokesperson for Facebook indicated that Apple should also offer an exemption for online events after this year, because companies that target events are in serious trouble due to the corona crisis. Incidentally, Facebook itself does not charge any costs for hosting events within the Facebook environment until August next year.

Apple has been criticized from several sides for its commission policy. Spotify and Epic Games, among others, have a long-standing conflict with the company. The two also recently formed a coalition of a number of like-minded companies to lobby against Apple’s App Store monopoly. According to the coalition, there is an abuse of power because app providers are forced to use Apple’s payment methods.