Telegram CEO criticises Apple for App Store policies

SAN FRANCISCO: Telegram's CEO has accused Apple of "destroying dreams and ruining entrepreneurship" because of its App Store policies.

The company charged a 30 per cent fee on in-app purchases for developers that earn more than $1 million annually, reports MacRumors.

Twitter CEO, Pavel Durov, claimed in a post on his Telegram channel that Apple has notified the messaging service that it would not be able to permit content creators to accept payments from third parties.

Telegram enables content creators to charge users for access to channels or specific posts through a paywall, as opposed to Apple's in-app purchasing system.

According to Durov, Telegram has been forced to prohibit paid posts and channels on its iOS version because Apple is not "happy with content creators monetising their efforts without paying a 30 per cent tax".

"This is just another example of how a trillion-dollar monopoly abuses its market dominance at the expense of millions of users who are trying to monetise their own content," Durov was quoted as saying in the report.

"I hope that the regulators in the EU, India, and elsewhere start taking action before Apple destroys more dreams and crushes more entrepreneurs with a tax that is higher than any government-levied VAT," he added.