Facebook Claims Apple is Damaging Small Businesses by Collecting Fees From Paid Facebook Events

As Apple battles with Epic Games over its App Store fees, Facebook is joining the fight over its new Paid Online Events feature, which allows small businesses in 20 countries to charge Facebook users to attend online classes and events.

facebookfeesapple
Facebook wants Apple to waive its 30 percent fee taken from in-app purchases or let Facebook process event payments with Facebook Pay, both of which Apple has refused.

We asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax or allow us to offer Facebook Pay so we could absorb all costs for businesses struggling during COVID-19. Unfortunately, they dismissed both our requests and SMBs will only be paid 70% of their hard-earned revenue. Because this is complicated, as long as Facebook is waiving its fees, we will make all fees clear in our products.

When a business owner schedules an event through Facebook on iOS, Facebook will make it clear that Apple is taking a 30 percent cut of the purchase price. Facebook is waiving its own fees for the feature "for at least the next year."

Transactions done on the web or on Android where Facebook Pay is available will allow business owners to keep 100 percent of revenue generated from paid online events. The feature is meant to allow Facebook Page owners to create an online event, set a price, promote the event, collect payment, and host the event all on Facebook.

Without calling out Apple directly, Facebook's announcement for the new feature says that businesses "shouldn't have to worry about fees charged by platforms" and points out that Apple's fees will make it so businesses will only be paid "70 percent of their hard-earned revenue."

Other companies, including Airbnb and ClassPass, have made similar complaints about Apple's refusal to waive in-app fees for virtual classes and features that have been forced to transition to online due to the ongoing pandemic.

ClassPass, for example, normally allows users to book classes at local gyms, but has instead moved its business online and started offering virtual classes. Under Apple's ‌App Store‌ rules, virtual classes require providing Apple its 30 percent commission, which ClassPass has balked at. ClassPass ultimately pulled virtual classes from the iPhone app.

Airbnb offers online experiences like virtual cooking classes and meditation sessions, which Apple also collects fees from. Apple has refused to grant special permission to apps like ClassPass, Facebook, and Airbnb in the name of fairness for other developers who are subject to the fees.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

sniffies Avatar
64 months ago
Facebook is damaging the entire world:

Misinformation
Meddling
Nazis
Hate
Racism

Must I go on?

They really should shut up.
Score: 91 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DinkThifferent Avatar
64 months ago
Oh boohoo Mark Zuckerberg. Do we all get a 30% fee for all our data you sell?
Score: 86 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TravelsInBlue Avatar
64 months ago
People who fail to see the issue with all of this really need to put down the Apple Kool-aid. Sure, App Store purchases make sense to have a commission fee, but does it make sense for Apple to take 30% of every single transaction within the ecosystem, even inside of each app?

No.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vividxl Avatar
64 months ago
Frankly Facebook users can just log into the web and bypass the App Store, it not like they don't already have a way around it. Facebook is just whining to whine.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
64 months ago
Funny to me how all these multi-billion dollar businesses are coming out of the woodwork to demand lower fees. I don't necessarily side with Apple on this issue but it's hard to feel sorry for these giants.

If any of them were in Apples position to have a smash hit phone ecosystem they would undoubtedly do the same. Heck Epic Games takes a cut from the games on their game store as an example.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
atoqir Avatar
64 months ago
Spotify, Netflix, Epic, Microsoft, Facebook (WhatsApp/Instagram/Messenger) should have all did the same what Epic did yesterday and get their apps pulled.

With that much leverage Apple would be forced to act quickly.

I am a huge Apple fan, but they got very bad points for blocking innovation like xCloud because I am a gamer.

They should just allow sideloading of stuff they don't want to approve. Everybody happy. They can even keep their 30 percent then without issue.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)