Apple Vs. Social Media: How Facebook Custom Subscriptions Take the Lead

Facebook is helping creators to save money on subscription fees through a new payment solution. This enables creators with popular pages to circumvent Apple’s 30% cut on subscription fees, but how will it work? Keep reading to find out.

Facebook Is Giving Creators Custom Links to Receive Direct Payments

Facebook has found a way to help creators get around Apple’s controversial in-app fees.

In a Facebook post , Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta , announced the social media platform is giving creators with popular Facebook pages new custom links that allow them to accept payments directly, circumventing Apple’s 30% cut.

As we build for the metaverse, we’re focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work. The 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that, so we’re updating our Subscriptions product so now creators can earn more.

Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook will reward creators between $5 and $20 for each new subscriber they sign up until the end of 2021 through a new bonus program, which forms part of its part of its $1 billion creator program.

This bonus applies whether subscribers pay through Facebook’s custom link or through Apple or Google’s payment systems.

How Facebook’s Custom Payment Links Work

Creators will be able to share custom web links directing their fans to pay them for subscriptions using Facebook’s payment system, Facebook Pay. If a fan signs up through the link instead of Apple’s in-app payment system, the creator will keep all the money, excluding taxes.

Creators can share these custom links with fans of their pages via text or email, pointing them to Facebook Pay, and Facebook will not be collecting any fees from creator payments until 2023.

Facebook’s recurring subscription feature is available to creators in 27 countries, provided they meet certain eligibility requirements.

If you want to sign up for Facebook’s page monetization tool, your page needs to have at least 10,000 followers or more than 250 return viewers, as well either 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 minutes watched.

Facebook Is Helping Creators Make More Money

At 30%, Apple’s cut from paid apps and in-app payments through iOS is too steep. It’s no surprise that Apple has been embroiled in controversy and lawsuits around this.

Through its new custom links payment solution, Facebook is giving creators a better option, which will help them keep more of the money they make through subscriptions.

And while Facebook may eventually take a cut from fan payments, it may still be lower than Apple’s, which would still make Facebook’s payment system preferable over Apple’s.