San Francisco (AFP)

Facebook was added on Friday to the list of companies criticizing Apple for its inflexibility on the commissions of its application platform, while the social media giant is launching a new tool to organize paid events online.

In 20 countries, SMEs can now offer cooking, yoga and other types of videoconferencing classes, via their Facebook page, for a price that they are free to set.

The Californian group has promised not to receive a commission on these events for at least a year. The organizers will therefore receive all the sums raised ... if they use a computer or a mobile device running Android, the operating system of Google.

"We asked Apple to reduce its tax by 30% of the App Store (the application store on the brand's devices, editor's note) or to allow us to offer (our payment system) Facebook Pay, in order to 'absorb all the costs of companies in difficulty during the Covid-19, "said Fiji Simo, a vice president in charge of the Facebook app, in a statement released on Friday.

“Unfortunately, they refused our two requests and SMEs will only receive 70% of their hard-earned income,” she added.

The news falls as Epic Games has just embarked on a standoff with the Apple brand.

The publisher of the ultra popular Fortnite video game, on Thursday installed an alternative payment method, which allows players to save money by bypassing the integrated systems by default, and mandatory.

Contractually, developers must pay app download platforms - the App Store and the Google Play Store, mainly - a commission of 30% on user transactions.

Apple and Google immediately pulled Fortnite from their app stores ... and Epic Games is suing them, accusing them of anti-competitive practices.

The studio is asking the court to force Apple to change its rules for all app developers.

The iPhone manufacturer is in the crosshairs of many regulators and application publishers, such as Spotify, which are contesting the company's hold on the App Store, a necessary step for downloading applications on its popular devices, smartphones. to shelves.

Apple has defended itself against similar attacks in the past, saying that commissions are used to protect apps and their users from hackers and scams. Its percentage may drop to 15% from the second year for certain subscriptions.

© 2020 AFP