Telegram CEO Accuses Apple of Destroying Dreams and Crushing Entrepreneurs

Telegram's CEO has accused Apple of destroying dreams and ruining entrepreneurship with its App Store rules, more specifically, the company's 30% commission levied on in-app purchases for developers who make over $1 million a year.

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Writing on his Telegram channel, Pavel Durov said that Apple had informed the messaging platform that it would not be able to allow content creators to use third-party payment methods for sales. Telegram users can donate to content creators and access special content using a third-party payment method and not Apple's in-app purchasing system.

Durov said Apple is not "happy with content creators monetizing their efforts without paying a 30% tax" and that Telegram has no choice but to disable paid posts and channels on its iOS app. "This is just another example of how a trillion-dollar monopoly abuses its market dominance at the expense of millions of users who are trying to monetize their own content," Durov continued.

Durov accused Apple of destroying dreams and crushing entrepreneurs with its ‌App Store‌ tax, which requires a 15% or 30% commission to Apple for most in-app purchases. Durov called upon regulators in the EU, India, and around the world to "start taking action." Durov's full message can be found below.

Some content creators started using third-party payment bots to sell access to individual posts in their Telegram channels. This way, content creators could receive close to 100% of whatever their subscribers paid, which was great.

Unfortunately, we received word from Apple that they were not happy with content creators monetizing their efforts without paying a 30% tax to Apple. Since Apple has complete control over its ecosystem, we had no alternative but to disable such paid posts on iOS devices.

This is just another example of how a trillion-dollar monopoly abuses its market dominance at the expense of millions of users who are trying to monetize their own content. I hope that the regulators in the EU, India, and elsewhere start taking action before Apple destroys more dreams and crushes more entrepreneurs with a tax that is higher than any government-levied VAT.

In the meantime, we at Telegram shall work to offer creators powerful and easy-to-use tools to monetize their content – outside of Apple's restrictive ecosystem.

This is not the first time Durov has spoken out against Apple. In August the CEO lashed out at Apple against its "obscure" App Store rules.

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Top Rated Comments

szw-mapple fan Avatar
30 months ago

Can someone explain why I can use my credit card on apps like Amazon but not on other apps?

Trillion dollar companies carve out exceptions for each other.
Apple does not take commissions from apps selling physical goods nor do they disallow using credit card directly on those.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
schlitzz Avatar
30 months ago
K, you build your own smartphone platform, hardware, infrastructure, and accessories. THEN tell us HOW 30% is unfair.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jlc1978 Avatar
30 months ago
This whole tax nomenclature is stupid. Apple runs a store and marks up the price like any other store. Telegram and others want access to Apple ‘s user base for free, plain and simple, and be allowed to profit off of it without Apple getting anything for it.

They should be careful what they wish for, as Apple can simply change the fee structure to make access more costly than today, especially for popular apps.

That’s an unfair comparison thou. WE pay for the smartphone, hardware, and accessories.
And you pay for boxed software from a store that also marks it up. Same thing.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Born Again Avatar
30 months ago
Can someone explain why I can use my credit card on apps like Amazon but not on other apps?
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brofkand Avatar
30 months ago

Can someone explain why I can use my credit card on apps like Amazon but not on other apps?
Trillion dollar companies carve out exceptions for each other.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yaxomoxay Avatar
30 months ago

K, you build your own smartphone platform, hardware, infrastructure, and accessories. M
That’s an unfair comparison thou. WE pay for the smartphone, hardware, and accessories.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)