Rebellion of the web giants against Apple. Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), Microsoft, Wednesday March 20. In a rare collective initiative, they sent a text to a California court responsible for ensuring the application of this judicial decision.
At the end of a trial between the video game publisher Epic Games and Apple, a federal judge asked the iPhone manufacturer to authorize application publishers to offer alternative payment methods to those of the Apple ecosystem. In the text sent on Wednesday, the four companies, which recall having “some of the most popular applications in the App Store”, believe that Apple has not complied with this decision. Apple’s new policy “complies with neither the letter nor the spirit of the court’s decision,” the four companies said in their joint statement, in support of Epic.
The video game publisher recently took legal action in reaction to Apple’s new rules, arguing that they made offering other payment methods ineffective. The Apple brand has in fact proposed a solution allowing it to receive 12 to 27% on external purchases, which only represents a small reduction compared to what it charges on the App Store, where it charges up to 30% on all financial transactions.
Rules “are clearly designed to make alternatives to purchases made within the Apple system impractical for publishers, and inaccessible and unattractive for consumers…”, the companies accuse.
Questioned by AFP, Apple assured that it had “fully complied with the injunction” of the judge, which authorizes it to take the necessary measures to protect users. These rules also allow it to “protect itself against unpaid use, among other things, of the Apple platform, its services…, and its exclusive tools and technologies protected by intellectual property”, continues- her, citing her declaration of conformity sent to the courts.
