Damus Founder Anticipates Deplatforming from Apple App Store

Apple (AAPL) is set to remove Damus, a Twitter-like application widely used by bitcoin enthusiasts, from the App Store on Tuesday due to alleged violations of the company's in-app purchase guidelines.

The announcement was made on Monday via a tweet from William Casarin, the founder of Damus. He also confirmed the news in an interview with CoinDesk.

Damus, a decentralized social media platform, operates on the Nostr protocol. This protocol is favored by bitcoin enthusiasts, partially due to its ability to facilitate payments over the Lightning Network, a blockchain-based network. Nostr, which stands for "notes and other stuff transmitted by relays," has gained popularity among users.

Earlier this year, the app was launched on the App Store, but it faced the risk of delisting on June 13 due to the presence of "zaps." These zaps are a unique feature on Damus that enables users to send small amounts of bitcoin (BTC) to tip their preferred content creators, similar to Twitter's tipping feature. The Lightning Network, Bitcoin's secondary payment network, facilitates faster and more cost-effective transactions.

“Two weeks ago, we identified a feature in the Damus app that allowed users to send a tip in connection with digital content in the app, which violates App Store Review Guidelines 3.1.1 and 3.2.1 (vii),” Apple told CoinDesk.

Casarin stated that Apple expressed their desire to eliminate the zap button from all "notes" or content sections, which Casarin considers equivalent to selling digital content. However, Apple found it acceptable to retain the zap button on user profiles.

“I had a call with Apple and they told me that they don't want zaps to be used for selling,” Casarin explained. “I thought one of the compromises we can do is we’ll actually remove all note zapping functionality.”

He explained that he had made adjustments to the Damus interface so that the zap buttons would still be visible on notes. However, he ensured that the zaps would no longer be linked to any specific notes and would instead be sent and processed only at the profile level. Casarin mentioned that Apple was not pleased with his proposed solution.

“I spent the last two weeks removing the ability for users to see zaps,” Casarin said. “I resubmitted it and they just gave the exact same response.”

Apple acknowledged that they had reached out to Casarin and provided him with clear instructions on how to address the issue.

“As we previously communicated to this developer, they were to address the issues we outlined to them by their next update,” Apple explained. “Upon receipt of their latest submission, we found the issues were unresolved and rejected their app.”

None other than former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared to criticize Apple's decision, arguing that "tips aren't unlocking content." Earlier this month, he had 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.”

Dorsey, the current CEO of Block (SQ), a financial services company focused on Bitcoin, has generously contributed millions of dollars to support the development of the protocol.

The reasons behind Apple's potential removal of the app remain uncertain, leaving room for speculation on whether it is merely a misunderstanding or part of a larger effort to restrict specific types of bitcoin-focused applications. On June 14, Apple initially rejected an updated version of the Zeus non-custodial Lightning-enabled bitcoin wallet, but surprisingly approved it the following day.

“We review all apps against the same set of guidelines that are intended to protect customers and provide a fair and level playing field to developers,” Apple said.

Casarin and other critics have voiced their disapproval of the company's approval process, describing it as "opaque" and lacking transparency.

“The frustrating thing is that whenever you get feedback from Apple reviewers, they don't tell you specifically how you're breaking the guidelines,” Casarin said. “It's very frustrating. I think a lot of Bitcoin apps are at risk.”

Soure Coindesk