Meta: An additional 30% fee for promoting posts via iOS

Meta: An additional 30% fee for promoting posts via iOS is profiled by BTW Media because published evidence links it to internet infrastructure, governance, operational dependencies, or market visibility.

• Meta announced adhering to Apple’s App Store rules, imposing an extra 30% fee for advertisers promoting posts via iOS.
• Advertisers must prepay this fee for promotions on Facebook and Instagram apps, effective soon in the US and later globally.
• Apple insists on in-app purchases for digital services, including post promotions, per its longstanding policy.

Meta recently announced that, in compliance with Apple‘s App Store guidelines, advertisers promoting specific posts on its social media platforms via iOS devices will be required to pay an additional 30% commission.

Costs are passed on to customers

Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines in October 2022, specifying that promotions within social media must utilise the in-app purchase system, enabling Apple to levy a 30% commission on sales revenue.

Meta’s press release today stated that advertisers promoting posts through the Facebook and Instagram apps on iOS will incur this additional 30% fee, effectively passing on the increased cost to customers.

Meta’s previous practice was to charge for post promotions after they were completed, but now advertisers will be required to prepay for promotions. This policy change will take effect later this month in the US and later this year in other countries.

Also read: Zuckerberg insists Apple, Google responsible for child safety online, not Meta

There are ways to avoid the 30% fee

Advertisers can avoid the 30% fee and prepayment requirement by purchasing promotions directly on the Facebook.com and Instagram.com websites.

Meta emphasised the necessity of complying with Apple’s guidelines to retain the post-promotion feature, highlighting its importance for small businesses and their promotional activities.

In response, Apple reiterated its longstanding requirement for in-app purchases of digital goods and services, including post promotions, stating that such promotions fall under digital services and thus necessitate in-app purchases, a practice that many apps have successfully implemented.