Bloomberg recently reported that Apple has made contact with ByteDance and Tencent in regards to circumventing the App Store’s 30% commission.
ByteDance and Tencent have mini-apps that allow WeChat and Douyin users to make online purchases, hail rides, and play games without having to exit the app. Apparently, this circumvents Apple’s 30% commission for sales made through the App Store. With this, Apple has reached out and said that the mini-app creators should not have outside payment links that act as a loophole, or else the Cupertino-based company said it will not approve future Douying and WeChat updates. Apple also ordered Tencent to remove in-game chats between users and developers as links can also be sent from there. Bloomberg said Tencent resisted the action as it would impact the game experience.
An Apple representative spoke of the matter and said that guidelines must be followed for all digital goods in its system.
