Apple tax might force Facebook to make a new subscription tool exclusive on Android

Facebook is looking to help out publishers monetize their content on its platform. The social network plans to introduce a new subscription tool for its mobile app that will either put up paywalls on certain articles on Facebook’s news feed or redirect readers to the publishers’s sites to buy subscriptions. The issue with bringing this feature to Apple is what can be called Apple tax, where Apple requires app developers to pay as much as 30 percent off an app’s revenue to the company. And, of course, Apple wants in with this new tool, since they reason it is being coursed through the Facebook app. However, Facebook wants to give all the revenue to the publishers.

The two tech giants have been at an impasse for months already. But the tool is already ready to be released on Android in the coming weeks. According to Facebook, they are already working with publishers like Hearst, Washington Post, and Tronc. Whether Apple and Facebook can work it out is something we can’t say right now.

Source: Recode