Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes a dig at Apple's App Store policy, says it charges 'monopoly rents'

At a company-wide meeting last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused Apple of a “stranglehold” on apps on the App Store. Zuckerberg added that the company charges “monopoly rents” from apps. Apple has “this unique stranglehold as a gatekeeper on what gets on phones,” said Zuckerberg. This was first reported by BuzzFeed News. When asked about Apple restricting gaming apps, the Facebook CEO said that Apple charges “monopoly rents”, thereby blocking innovation and competition through the App Store. [caption id=“attachment_7666631” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Image: Getty.[/caption] This comes amid accusations of anticompetitive behaviour on Apple. Developers have said that Apple’s charge of 30 percent commission makes it hard to price their offerings competitively. The issue of Apple’s alleged anticompetitive behaviour was recently highlighted after Fortnite maker Epic Games violated Apple’s App Store guidelines by trying to bypass its in-app payment system. Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store and **Epic sued Apple** for the same. On Friday, Apple revoked Epic’s Developer account as well. Apple has said that it **would allow _Fortnite_ back on** **App Store**  if Epic Games removed the direct payment feature. But Epic has refused to do that, saying complying with Apple’s request would be “to collude with Apple to maintain their monopoly over in-app payments on iOS.”