When fees are ’taxes’ and free speech costs $8 a month

Thanks to the Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Apple faces renewed criticism over its App Store fees and whether its insistence on content moderation somehow suppresses free speech. Neither is quite true.

App Store fees: A negotiation in progress

Let’s begin with App Store fees. At present, some developers must pay Apple 30% of from sales of their software or from subscription income. Not all developers do so — in the second year, subscription fees drop to 15% of the take, while developers shifting under a million dollars in value also pay just 15%. (Developers who do not charge for their apps pay no fee at all.)

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