Apple recently updated its App Store guidelines with changes that, yet again, impact Facebook’s ad business.
The new rule, introduced Monday, says that companies like Meta
, which owns Facebook and Instagram, can offer apps that allow people to buy and manage advertising campaigns in dedicated apps without using Apple’s payment system, but it considers buying an ad in a social media app to be a digital purchase, from which Apple takes a 30% cut.
Meta wasn’t happy with the change. A Meta spokesperson told CNBC, “Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow their own business while undercutting others in the digital economy.”
The episode is the latest skirmish from companies like Meta that feel that Apple has too much power over mobile distribution and the ever expanding and changing rules of Apple’s App Store, which is the only way to install apps on an iPhone.
Meta and Apple have been battling for years, but the rivalry has grown more heated recently after Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency in the iPhone operating system last year. The privacy feature allows users to decline to offer app developers like Meta a unique device ID that can be used to track ad performance. Meta says the change could cost it $10 billion this year.
Meta and Apple also appear poised to compete in the world of consumer hardware, after Meta released the Quest Pro headset and Apple has been developing a competing VR headset for years that could reportedly launch next year.

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