Twitter’s head of consumer product, Kayvon Beykpour, says the social media giant acknowledges that App Store fees help build ecosystems and platforms.
In an interview with The Verge, Beykpour mentioned support for Apple and Google’s models for app store fees when discussing Twitter’s upcoming Super Follows paid feature.
“I get that there’s a lot of controversy around this, and some of it is for good reason. I think that there’s a lot of positive things about these. This isn’t just a highway tax,” he stated.
“There’s a lot of cost and effort involved in building these ecosystems that allow you to accept payments, and there’s a lot of fraud or risk involved in the whole customer service flow around refunds. A lot of that is taken off of your plate.”
Beykpour stated that Apple and Google have created frameworks for developers to leverage when it comes to in-app purchases and that although it comes with a cost, it also comes with benefits that improve simplicity.
Once Twitter rolls out the Super Follows feature, it will be required to give a cut to Apple and Google. Beykpour outlined that the way Twitter sees it, if a creator makes $10 through the new feature and has to give $3 to Apple, the creator is still making $7 that they wouldn’t have made before the feature.
He stated that Twitter is “not in the business of getting around platform rules.” Beykpour’s comments come as companies such as Epic Games and Spotify have slammed Apple for its App Store fees.
Epic Games is in an ongoing legal battle with Apple that started when the developer attempted to bypass the tech giant’s app store fees last year. Epic also recently filed complaints with the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal with antitrust allegations against Apple and Google.
Source: The Verge
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