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Telegram CEO accuses Apple’s App Store policy of destroying entrepreneurship
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov accused Apple’s App Store policy of destroying dreams and destroying entrepreneurship. Pavel Durov wrote on his Telegram channel that Apple has informed the messaging platform that it will not allow content creators to sell using third-party payment methods
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Telegram allows content creators to provide access to channels or individual posts through paywalls (blocking systems that prevent non-paying users from viewing web content), and users can pay through third-party payment methods instead of Apple’s in-app purchase system.
Durov accused Apple of destroying dreams and crushing entrepreneurs with its App Store commission, which calls for charging Apple a 15% or 30% commission on most in-app purchases. Durov called on regulators in the EU, India, and around the world to “start taking action”.
Durov’s full text follows:
“Some content creators have started using third-party payment bots to sell access to individual posts on their Telegram channels. That way, content creators can receive close to 100% of what their users pay for, which is great.
Unfortunately, we’ve heard from Apple that they’re unhappy that content creators are making money without paying Apple’s 30% tax. Since Apple has complete control over its ecosystem, we have no choice but to disable such paid posts on iOS devices.
This is just another example of how a multi-trillion-dollar monopoly can abuse its dominant market position at the expense of millions of users trying to monetize its own content. I hope regulators in the EU, India, and elsewhere start taking action, lest Apple destroys more dreams and crushes more entrepreneurs with taxes higher than any government’s value-added tax.
At the same time, we at Telegram will strive to provide creators with powerful and easy-to-use tools to commercialize their content — outside of Apple’s restrictive ecosystem.”