Meta plans to start charging a 30% fee for boosting Facebook and Instagram posts on iOS later in February, after Apple extended its 30% cut to boosting in 2022
Meta had previously built creator-payment tools designed to bypass Apple and Google in-app purchase fees, showing that mobile platform commissions were already shaping its monetization design.
The new iOS charge extends that pressure from creator subscriptions to paid distribution. It also arrives as Meta has experimented with paid alternatives, including an ad-free subscription option in Europe, making payment routing and price presentation more consequential across its apps.
First-order effects
Businesses and creators buying boosts through Facebook or Instagram on iOS face a 30% added charge, raising the immediate cost of that purchase path.
Meta preserves the economics of boosted-post sales on iOS by passing along the commission Apple applies to boosting rather than absorbing it.
Second-order effects
The higher iOS price changes the relative economics of purchasing promotion on mobile, giving advertisers an incentive to compare iOS boosting with other available buying routes before allocating spend.
It reinforces Meta’s incentive to steer monetization toward payment flows that avoid platform commissions, consistent with its earlier creator-payment tooling.
Third-order effects
If pass-through charges become standard, app-store take rates will increasingly appear as visible price differences for business and creator services, not merely as a platform cost borne by the app operator.
The move adds to pressure around platform monetization design: Meta’s paid options have already drawn DMA scrutiny over its pay-or-consent model, though that scrutiny concerns a separate product choice.
The trend: Social platforms are increasingly redesigning prices and payment routes around mobile operating-system commissions and the regulatory scrutiny surrounding platform monetization.
Apple forcing EVERY transaction that happens in your phone to go through ONLY them and taking 30% of it is like your landlord taking 30% of your salary and also collecting 30% of everything you purchase from inside your home on Amazon instead of just collecting rent for the servi…
Today I had my call with @meta (they offered it through Instagram to random people and I was one of them🤷🏻♀️). This was the only solid info I got(1/3)👇🏻
I have thoughts on this Meta IAP situation but I'm too scared to share them on this website because I'll just be attacked by a bunch of Meta employees and their sheep.
Meta is passing on the Apple tax for boosted posts to advertisers Now that Apple is starting to take a 30% cut from boosted posts on Facebook's and Instagram's iOS apps, Meta is making them more expensive. But Meta says people can still purchase boosts from Instagram's and Faceb…
#Meta wants users to pay for #Apple's 30% commission on in app purchases. Do you agree with this decision? 👀 [Poll at 8:59PM EST Yes: 12.1% No, Meta should pay: 87.0% (628 votes - 1 day left)]
“general” [Screenshot: “Update: In response to our inquiry, Apple said when it finds that an app is out of compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines, its general approach is to work with the developer to help bring them into compliance with the rules.]
Meta and Apple are at it again, this time with Meta publishing instructions so advertisers can avoid paying a new 30% charge to Apple for boosted posts. Those posts are a type of advertisement that generates billions of dollars in revenue annually for Meta and is critical to its…
@theJoshMeister I try to be as impartial as possible. I'm positive, neutral, or negative on a whole variety of Apple topics. In this case, what Apple is saying simply doesn't add up. And they are not yet providing an explanation as to why Meta was allowed to break the rules for 1…
I can even understand to some extent. Apple removing Facebook from the App Store would be very unideal and mean the iPhone lacks an extremely popular app (I hate Facebook personally, but it's huge). But don't bullshit about the rules applying equally if so. 🙂
This probably isn't going to help my Apple PR relationship, but I have some thoughts to share about this Apple/Meta story. The facts/truth and speaking freely matters very much. It is...14 months since the App Store Review Guidelines were clarified. In an email responding to M…
The worst part of the App Store / App Review is how they inconsistently apply rules and often give special favors to large apps (aka the companies that need those favors the least).
Facebook $META said today that it will start charging a 30% fee when advertisers pay to boost posts in Facebook's and Instagram's iOS apps The change stems from a 2022 App Store update where Apple extended its typical 30% fee for digital purchases to boosted posts - The Verge
“Meta Steers Users Away From New Apple Fees in Latest Spat Between Tech Giants” (WSJ) $META will begin charging users of “boosted posts” on Facebook and Instagram 30% for $AAPL service fees, and is encouraging them to buy direct from its website