Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added his voice to those criticizing Apple’s compliance with the EU’s new Digital Markets (DMA) regulation, which forces Apple to open up its App Store and allows developers to use the their own payment systems, among others. During Meta’s Q4 earnings conference call this afternoon, Zuckerberg responded to an investor question asking for Meta’s thoughts on DMA by saying that Apple’s new rules were “so onerous” that he would be surprised if any developer adopted them.
The new regulations were intended to increase competition in the app economy by allowing other companies to run their own app stores and collect their own payments, which would, in theory, allow them to bypass Apple’s commissions and fees. However, Apple’s DMA compliance reduced the fees but added other, new fees — including a new “Key Technology Fee” — that would apply to any developer who adopted the DMA rules, regardless of where their app was distributed. including the App Store. Otherwise, Apple said developers could choose to stay with the same commission structure that exists today, where Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut of revenue from in-app purchases, depending on the app’s reach and other factors.
If the DMA had been written to be more airtight, Meta could have used the new law to launch its own app store. It had once toyed with the idea of offering a Facebook game store, for example, but Apple’s rules forced Facebook to remove any real gaming functionality in the app. Meta eventually gave up, shutting down the app in 2022, two years after its launch.
From Zuckerberg’s comments today, it doesn’t appear that Meta has any intention of bringing it back.
“I don’t think the Apple thing is going to make any difference to us because I think the way they’ve implemented it, I’d be very surprised if any developer chooses to go to the alternative app stores that they have,” Zuckerberg told investors. “They’ve made it so burdensome, and I think, so against the intent of the EU regulation that I think it’s going to be very difficult for anyone — including ourselves — to really seriously entertain what they’re doing there.”
Meta joins other tech companies that have criticized Apple’s DMA compliance, including Epic Games, Spotify, Mozilla and Microsoft. Epic Games, which sued Apple over antitrust issues and largely lost, called Apple’s DMA rules “malicious compliance” and full of “useless fees.” Spotify called them “blackmail” and a “total hoax” and Microsoft said it was a “step in the wrong direction.” Another notable critic of Apple Match said that he has not yet decided whether to opt for the new DMA rules as he is still reviewing them.
