Apple warned the developers of the decentralized social network Damus about a possible removal from the App Store due to the content monetisation feature.
Damus will be removed from the app store in 14 days, apple says zaps are not allowed on their platform because they *could* be used by content creators to sell digital content. This is right before we’re about to give our talk at the oslo freedom forum on how decentralized social… pic.twitter.com/uAK1U0UBet
— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) June 13, 2023
The so-called zaps help users earn satoshis for views of posts. The initiative is implemented via the Bitcoin micro-payment network Lightning Network.
We noticed that your app allows users to send ‘tips’ related to obtaining content from authors, using a mechanism other than purchases in the [AppStore], Apple said.
The project\’s developer, William Casarin, did not rule out dropping zaps to stay in the App Store.
According to him, if Apple removes the app, their marketplace will become a ‘dead platform for blockchain applications attempting to innovate with Lightning’.
“Damus does not sell digital goods and does not provide tools to sell them. The service simply has ‘tips’ to facilitate P2P transactions, for example via Venmo or CashApp,” the protocol representatives added.
Damus positions itself as a user-governed social network. The app is built on the decentralized network Nostr, which enables end-to-end messaging without servers via relays.
The developers introduced the feature of content monetisation in March. Alongside the rollout of zaps, the platform was flooded with fraudulent projects posing as original cryptocurrency protocols.
In May, the developers of the Move-to-Earn project STEPN added the option for direct payments via Apple Pay for iOS devices.
In the same month, the blockchain game Axie Infinity became available in the App Store. At present, the app can be downloaded only in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.