Apple blasts Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘metaverse tax’ plan as ‘hypocrisy’

APPLE has hit out at Facebook-owner Meta for its plan to take a huge chunk of earnings made in the metaverse.

Mark Zuckerberg’s tech empire will grab a massive 47.5 per cent of sales made in its Horizon Worlds platform, while the rest will go to the user.

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Now Apple has joined the wave of fury, calling the move “hypocrisy”.

That’s because Meta has previously been critical of the iPhone maker’s own commission fees.

“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn,” Apple rep Fred Sainz told MarketWatch.

“Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform.

“[Meta’s] announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy.

“It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.”

The social networking giant wants a 30% hardware platform fee if you’re selling virtual assets through the Meta Quest Store.

And on top of this there’s a 17.5% fee for sales made in Horizon Worlds.

Before Apple spoke out, Meta’s Horizon head Vivek Sharma told The Verge: “We think it’s a pretty competitive rate in the market.

“We believe in the other platforms being able to have their share.”

Zuckerberg, 37, is reportedly considering launching his own metaverse currency dubbed the ‘Zuck Buck’.

It would come in the form of digital coins and tokens to spend in the virtual world.

Meanwhile, Apple is rumoured to be planning its own metaverse efforts, with a virtual headset tipped to surface in 2023.

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