Damus Founder Banned From Apple App Store: Crypto Investors Beware!

Key Points:

• Decentralized social media app Damus threatened with delisting by Apple over “zaps” feature.
• Users can send small amounts of BTC over the Lightning Network to content creators.
• Apple wanted the zap button removed from all content sections, leading to criticism from users and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Damus is a decentralized social media platform that runs on the Nostr protocol, which is quite popular with bitcoiners.

One of the reasons for its popularity is that most implementations of Nostr support payments over the blockchain’s Lightning Network. Lightning is Bitcoin’s second layer payment network that enables faster transactions and lower transaction fees.

The Damus app was launched in the App Store earlier this year, but it faced a threat of delisting on June 13. The reason behind this threat was the “zaps” feature of the app, which allows users to send small amounts of bitcoin over the Lightning Network to tip their favorite content creators. This feature is similar to Twitter’s “tip” feature. Apple deemed this feature to be a violation of its App Store Review Guidelines 3.1.1 and 3.2.1 (vii).

According to Apple, the zap button should be removed from all “notes” or content sections as this is equivalent to selling digital content. However, it is fine to have a zap button on user profiles.

The CEO of Damus, Casarin, spoke with Apple and proposed a compromise. He suggested removing all note zapping functionality from the app. Casarin modified the Damus interface so that zap buttons would still appear on notes. However, the zaps themselves would not be associated with any notes and would only be sent and processed at the profile level. Despite this, Apple was not satisfied with the compromise.

Casarin spent the next two weeks removing the ability for users to see zaps. He resubmitted the app, but Apple gave the exact same response. Apple confirmed that they had engaged with Casarin and explained how to resolve the issue. However, upon receipt of the latest submission, they found that the issues were still unresolved and rejected the app.

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared to criticize Apple’s decision. He argued that “tips aren’t unlocking content.” Dorsey is now the CEO of Bitcoin-focused financial services company Block (SQ), and he has donated millions towards the protocol’s development. Earlier this month, he tweeted that a move by the tech giant to cut off Damus could restrict Bitcoin adoption and thwart the “one opportunity to build a truly global payment protocol for the Internet.”

On June 14, the company rejected an updated version of the non-custodial Lightning-enabled bitcoin wallet Zeus, but it was subsequently approved the next day.

Apple claims that it reviews all apps against the same set of guidelines that are intended to protect customers and provide a fair and level playing field to developers. However, Casarin and others have criticized the company’s approval process, calling it “opaque.”

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