Jack Dorsey-backed Damus Faces Removal from Apple’s App Store

• Company representatives said that they will be filing an appeal.
• A need to make use of in-app purchases in accordance with guideline 3.1.1 was included.

Apple has decided to formally remove Damus, a decentralized social networking app built on the Nostr protocol, from the App Store because the company has not brought the app in line with its Bitcoin tipping service.

Damus tweeted on Monday that despite the app being updated to make it obvious that users’ tips do not access digital material. The app is still being banned from app stores. Company representatives said that they will be filing an appeal because they felt the move against them was “misapplied.”

BTC Tipping Feature

The social media platform enables users to send “zaps.” These are Bitcoin transactions through Bitcoin’s layer 2 Lightning Network—to their preferred content providers as tips. The program, which is based on the Nostr protocol, functions similarly to Twitter’s tipping service, which was implemented in 2021 and supported lightning as a tipping mechanism under the leadership of Bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey.

According to Apple’s statement to Damus, voluntary tips and contributions are OK. But only if they are unrelated to the delivery of digital content. A need to make use of in-app purchases in accordance with guideline 3.1.1 was mentioned.

Damus, Bitcoiners, and other prominent figures in the IT industry, including Jack Dorsey, all viewed the denial with suspicion. Dorsey has previously said that Nostr is one of only two “truly censorship resistant technologies at scale” alongside Bitcoin.

Damus deemed Apple’s action “pretty sus” because of the little notice they were given to change their tipping service earlier this month. This occurred just before the company’s presentation on lightning-based decentralized social networks at the Oslo Freedom Forum.

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