Thom, exceedingly pure

I have no contracts, agreements, or business with Apple. I do not use Apple products, do not rely on any of their services or tools. Yet, because of their illegal rent-seeking and predatory behaviours, even I have to deal with their bullshit because Apple is forcing Patreon to change its billing system. I have to raise prices on people using iOS to subscribe to the @osnews Patreon.

https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon

Existing Patreons and Patreons using the web or Android are unaffected.

Apple is a cancer.

Apple’s requirements to hit creators and fans on Patreon

Apple requires that Patreon switch to their iOS in-app purchase system, or risk being removed from the App Store. Here’s what’s creators need to know.

Apple’s requirements to hit creators and fans on Patreon
Aug 12, 2024 at 1:55pmWeb
Show threadThom, exceedingly pureAug 12, 2024

@osnews I'll obviously be adding warnings to my Patreon profile and tiers that if you use the iOS app to subscribe, you'll be taxed by Apple for 30%, and advise people to use the web or the Android app instead to sub.

As a side note, I'm going to add an utterly idiotic $100 tier as a joke. I'm calling it the god-emperor tier. Nobody is going to use it, but I just want to offer people the option of becoming the official god-emperor of OSNews.

Show threadThom, exceedingly pureAug 12, 2024

@osnews Hey @EUCommission, you might want to look into this. I'm a small creator in the EU relying on small donations from my readers, and now Apple is forcing the platform I use - Patreon - to only use Apple's billing system, and charging my readers the 30% Apple tax, under threat of being removed from the App Store. This will hurt so many small creators and artists in the EU.

This is a clear violation of the DMA.

Show threadruiAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews teensy bit harsh. YOU don't have a deal with Apple, but some of YOUR customers are using Apple's platform and Apple has decided there's a charge for that, same way you decided to charge your customers for your stuff. Make your stuff free, no more Apple hassle? If you're not doing that, you understand Apple's motivations, no? Also, they're not forcing you to raise prices at all, you're choosing to pass on the platform fee to your customers.
Show threadruiAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews I get it, Apple leveraging its dominant platform to make even more money feels unfair. But real cancer is a fuck of a lot worse than a 15% commission.
Show threadamonduinAug 12, 2024

@rui @thomholwerda @osnews I swear there must be some Apple distributed talking points that went around. All the Apple shills are saying the same things, that Apple has a right to all a share of revenue that occurs on iPhones because they built the phone.

The notion that Apple has not already been paid for iOS is weird and wrong, the customer already paid Apple when they bought the system.

Here's a question.

Why don't apps distributed via Cydia have to pay Apple?

Show threadruiAug 12, 2024
@amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews sorry to disappoint but I'm not an Apple shill. I'm on holiday, popped back into mastodon after getting bored of threads, saw a post calling Apple a cancer and had an opinion all of my own. I don't know what thing you're referring to is so i can't answer your question I'm afraid. Apple's platform, Apple's rules. If publishers don't like the rules, pull the app and do everything through the web = no Apple tax?
Show threadamonduinAug 12, 2024

@rui @thomholwerda @osnews
Apple doesn't own the products after they sell them. The customer does. Apple designed the products to make it hard/impossible to get to customers without going through Apple. I don't think the industry should work this way and the EU and others should pass as many laws as required to put an end to it.

I call you an Apple shill because you, and Gruber, Ben Thompson, etc... all say the same thing, that Apple is entitled to revenue "because it is Apple's platform".

Show threadruiAug 13, 2024
@amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews when you're being called names you've won the argument. I don't follow Ben Thompson, I do occasionally listen to Gruber's podcast but often disagree with him. But it is Apple's platform. Instead of calling me a name, why don't you attempt to make a single compelling point to refute my claim that Apple runs a software ecosystem that can justifiably be called a platform?
Show threadDanielAug 12, 2024
@rui @amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews Newsflash, you are an Apple shill. Stop spreading their cancer.
Show threadruiAug 13, 2024
@danielinoa @amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews I've lost people I love to cancer. This is a company charging other companies a bit more money than you think is fair. So very respectfully, fuck your language. I have a right to have a different opinion and to express it without name calling. How old are you? 7? Grow the fuck up and debate like an adult.
Show threadDanielAug 13, 2024

@rui @amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews you lost the plot when you started defending a multi-trillion dollar corporation. 30% ain’t a “bit more money“.

Imagine the cancer-ridden Patreon creator, who barely makes enough to cover their medicine, now having to fork 30% because your favorite corporation decided they want that money. Spare me the bullshit

Show threadruiAug 15, 2024
@danielinoa @amonduin @thomholwerda @osnews that person can pass the cost on to iOS users. Read the terms. Not sure if you'll see this because I'm blocking your nastiness.
Show threadThom, exceedingly pureAug 12, 2024
@rui @osnews I am not using Apple's platform. Why should I pay for it?
Show threadruiAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews you don't have to pay for it if you chose to let your iOS-using customers pay the platform costs
Show threadMark Shane HaydenAug 13, 2024

@rui

Dude.

@thomholwerda *is* paying for it if @osnews loses subscriptions from Apple-using patrons who are unable or unwilling to pay the Apple Tax or move off the Apple platform

Show threadkasilasAug 13, 2024
@rui @thomholwerda @osnews
If you truly believe what your saying cool, but it is so obviously anti-competitive that even Apple won't maintain this position for long.
Show threadp4blockAug 12, 2024

@rui @thomholwerda @osnews if you buy a plane ticket with an iphone, does apple get 30% of the ticket?

If you buy a car through safari, do they?

Show threadamonduinAug 12, 2024
@p4block @rui @thomholwerda @osnews I think Apple wishes they did.
Show threadMichael PorterAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @stroughtonsmith @osnews I have Apple stuff up the yazoo, have used their products for decades. Still.
Disgusting that a company with more money than God needs to behave this way.
Show threadadacostaAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews I’m deep in the #Apple ecosystem but I’m starting to think, maybe by the end of this decade it’s time to start departing. I’m already operating system agnostic, but my data is mostly centralized across Apple products.
Show threadS T E L L A R  Aug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews well it only impacts apple users. so like. its just a stupidity tax.
Show threadmjdxpAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews more people should raise their prices for apple devices if apple's gonna do this. apple device owners chose to use apple devices, let them pay the apple tax or switch to a platform that's not supporting an evil company
Show threadSander van KasteelAug 12, 2024
@thomholwerda @osnews I think, the only possible solution for Patreon at this point is to pull their iOS app.

Or make it impossible to subscribe to creators through the app. How badly that might suck for creators.... 😔
Show threadcakemixAug 13, 2024

@thomholwerda @osnews Cancer, sure.

How embarrassing for you.

Show threadDennis ✅Aug 13, 2024
@thomholwerda @timo @osnews To be fair, Patreon is also using this opportunity to force existing monthly subscriptions to the daily model: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/08/patreon-screws-me-over-says-a-big-apple-did-it-and-ran-away/ Patreon has been entshittifying their platform for a while now, even without Apple‘s help.
Patreon screws me over, says a big Apple did it and ran away

Patreon has two billing models, monthly (bills on the first of the month, or whenever they get around to it) and daily (charges you the moment you sign up.) For several years now, they have been trying really hard to get creators to switch to daily billing whether they like it or not, with a series of intrusive nags and dark patterns. E.g., the "Settings" tab always has an "unread" alert on ...