Apple has agreed to allow Facebook to process payments for its paid online events feature via Facebook Pay, without taking a 30% cut, until December 31
for now — when Facebook sells online classes Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat : Facebook takes a shot at Apple over stance on paid online events for game creators Bloomberg : Apple to Let Facebook Online Events Temporarily Avoid 30% Cut Reuters : Facebook events service gets temporary exemption from Apple App Store fees: blog post Nadeem Sarwar / Pocketnow : Apple grants Facebook's paid online events temporary exemption from its App Store fee Joe Wituschek / iMore : Apple reverses course, temporarily removes fees for Facebook events Silicon Valley Business Journal : Apple makes unexpected concession on 30% App Store fees The Information : Apple's Thin Olive Branch to Critics: The Information's Tech Briefing Rachel Sandler / Forbes : Apple Temporarily Delays 30% Fee For Facebook Events Adriana Lee / WWD : Apple Gives In, Allows Facebook Pay for Paid Online Events Agence France-Presse : Facebook gets reprieve from Apple on live events cut Jefferson Mangubat / Neowin : Apple agrees to not collect fees for Facebook's paid online events for now Christopher Baugh / iPhone in Canada Blog : Apple to Temporarily Stop Collecting 30 Percent App Store Tax on Facebook Event Fees Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today : Apple Grants Temporary Waiver of its 30% Fee on Funds Raised Through Facebook's New Paid Events Option Todd Spangler / Variety : Apple Temporarily Waives 30% Fee for Facebook Paid Live Events, but Not for Facebook Gaming App Cal Jeffrey / TechSpot : Apple temporarily waives its 30-percent fee on Facebook events for small-businesses Abrar Al-Heeti / CNET : Apple halts fee on Facebook paid online events Surur / MSPoweruser : Apple bends again, will let Facebook use Facebook Pay for small business online events on iOS Mike Peterson / AppleInsider : Apple agrees to delay 30% cut of live event transactions on App Store Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac : [Update: Applies for all devs] Apple concedes to Facebook on its 30% iOS cut for online events Evan Selleck / iDownloadBlog.com : Apple temporarily pauses taking 30% cut from Facebook event fees [Updated] David Cohen / Adweek : Apple Grants Temporary Reprieve on 30% Fee to SMBs Running Facebook Paid Online Events Christine Fisher / Engadget : Apple won't collect fees on paid Facebook events until 2021 Tweets: Alex Heath / @alexeheath : Facebook wants Apple to loosen its grip on messaging. The head of Messenger tells me that iPhone owners should be able to pick outside apps as their default choice to replace Apple. Says it would allow FB to more fairly compete where iOS is dominant. https://thein.fo/... Zach Vorhies / @perpetualmaniac : Apple is trying to grab 30% as a tax on all small businesses using Facebook to conduct transactions. Due to backlash, Apple decided to defer this by 3 months. It's time to confront this monopoly by Apple. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Sai / @ssaig : That's sucks. So Apple will bend the knee to FB. Damn. Unexpected @tim_cook. So not apple. https://twitter.com/... Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : NEW: After FB publicly shamed Apple for taking a 30% cut of transactions from its live events feature, claiming it was hurting businesses during the pandemic, Apple now says it will let FB users avoid those fees through the end of the year From August: https://www.bloomberg.com/... @schollfused : Delayed privacy features. Exemption that Fortnite couldn't get. What next? Messenger/WhatsApp can be default messaging app while Telegram can't? https://twitter.com/... Vivek Sharma / @pucknorris : Apple's decision to not collect its 30% tax on paid online events comes with a catch: gaming creators are excluded from using Facebook Pay in paid online events on iOS, so gaming creator Pages will only see Apple's payment option and are subject to Apple's 30% fee. https://twitter.com/... @gernot : No no no, @Apple, „temporarly doing the right thing" is not the same as „doing the right thing". Sure, take a cut where appropriate, but don't take it where not. Apply rules consistently. And don't insist on crazy margins in a monopoly situation. The 30% cut has to go. https://twitter.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka : News: Apple gives Facebook, Airbnb and Classpass a temporary Apple Tax break. https://www.vox.com/... Sal Rodriguez / @sal19 : Apple reverses decision to charge businesses fees for events, but Facebook still isn't happy https://www.cnbc.com/... by @stevekovach Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Apple says it reversed the decision to help companies still adapting to digital amid the pandemic. The fees are waived until December 31. But they do gaming companies still have to pay. https://www.cnbc.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : NEW: Apple reversed its decision to charge 30% for Facebook digital events. But the reversal does not apply to gaming companies. https://www.cnbc.com/... Rihard Jarc / @rihardjarc : Wow, $FB flexing their muscles on $AAPL. Seems Apple doesn't mind “fighting” with smaller companies like Epic but doesn't want a fight with a bigger “opponent” like Facebook. https://www.cnbc.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : “But the irony in Facebook's recent criticism over Apple should not be lost: Facebook is also facing formal antitrust investigations from the Federal Trade Commission and nearly every state attorney general in the U.S.” https://www.cnbc.com/... @ukituki : Step 1: clear the play field Step 2: crowd out the Messages Step 3: deploy Lbra https://twitter.com/... Callum Jones / @icj_ : All developers are treated the same All developers are treated the same All developers are treated the same ... ... Most developers are treated the same https://twitter.com/... Alex Hern / @alexhern : remember when Facebook uploaded entire SMS histories to their servers from Android phones with shaky consent? good times. https://twitter.com/... @jhuckaby : Don't tell Epic Games 😝 https://twitter.com/... James Titcomb / @jamestitcomb : This has... been Apple's policy on online events for months and it's been reported for months? https://www.nytimes.com/... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ ... https://twitter.com/... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : Apple is (temporarily) waiving its fee for Facebook's paid online events feature https://techcrunch.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Apple won't take its 30% when Facebook lets small businesses sell live online classes; same for ClassPass, as well as the virtual “experiences” Airbnb wants to sell. But that tax will come back in January. Alex B / @somospostpc : Google counsel team have a mortgage to pay. Even with multiple app stores, I don't see this new rule going swiftly https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This ends a month of open hostilities. Facebook launched paid online events in 20 countries with its own fees waived, then publicly accused Apple of hurting small businesses by keeping its 30% cut on iOS — and said Apple forced it to strip a message telling users about that cut before the feature could ship. The December 31 expiry is the tell: this is a truce, not a policy change.
The waiver also extends a pattern rather than starting one. Earlier this month Apple let Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter sell ads in their iOS apps via direct transactions, sidestepping in-app purchase entirely (iA's report). Physical services and now event tickets are being carved out of the 30%, category by category.
First-order effects
- Facebook can run paid events on iOS through Facebook Pay and keep the full ticket price until year-end, removing the fee dispute that had blocked the feature's rollout.
- Small businesses and creators selling classes or events through Facebook no longer face a 30% iOS surcharge on top of Facebook's own temporarily waived fees.
Second-order effects
- Other developers whose goods resemble real-world services — the same argument Facebook made — gain a template for demanding their own IAP exemptions, putting pressure on Apple to define where 'digital good' ends.
- Facebook gets a public win in its gatekeeping narrative against Apple, sharpening the PR fight over App Store terms just as the exemption shows the 30% is negotiable under pressure.
Third-order effects
- If carve-outs keep accreting — ads, physical services, now events — the flat 30% weakens into a negotiated rate varying by category and leverage, which is exactly the structure regulators scrutinizing App Store fees argue is arbitrary.
- A dated exemption invites a January reckoning: either Apple formalizes which transactions escape IAP or the dispute returns with both companies having shown their negotiating positions.
The trend: App Store economics are shifting from a uniform 30% take rate toward case-by-case exemptions won through public pressure, with each waiver setting the precedent for the next challenge.