Within the Bitcoin community, Nostr is a revolutionary protocol that can decentralize the social media landscape and make it censorship-proof. However, tech giant Apple doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic about this revolution.
Damos, a Nostr-based decentralized social network that is very popular within the community and was only launched on the Apple App Store on January 31 of this year, has now received a ban notice from the tech giant. Damos announce Via their official Twitter account, the app will be removed from the App Store within 14 days.
Apple bans the Bitcoin-based social network
The tech giant informed Damus’ developers that slippage is not allowed on their platform because it can be used by content creators to sell digital content. Specifically, the tech giant writes:
After re-evaluation, we found that your app does not meet the App Store Review Guidelines. Specifically, we have found that your app is in violation of the following: Directive 3.1.1 – Business – Payments – In-app purchases.
We’ve noticed that your app allows users to submit “tips” associated with receiving content from digital content creators through a mechanism other than in-app purchases.
According to Damus developers, the ban comes at a “suspicious” time. The project will give a presentation at the Freedom Forum in Oslo from June 13-15 on how decentralized social networks with Lightning Network integration can bring financial freedom to the masses.
“This will be a watershed moment: if people can’t freely transact with p2p on their platform, it will have massive implications for the entire ecosystem of apps with lightning and v4v integration,” Damus developers say.
The Bitcoin community also reacted furiously to Apple’s decision. A community member explained that Apple is still keen on handling digital goods exclusively through its in-app purchase platform.
Meanwhile, others have confirmed that Damos itself does not sell digital goods. It only has a hint feature to facilitate p2p transactions, which makes it like a decentralized Venmo or Cash app.
Ray Youssef, former CEO and co-founder of P2P platform Paxful, added:
I was surprised it took them so long. They see what’s to come. P2p threatens all of these central players knowing how quickly content producers can move with their followers once they see the money. Imagine 1000 Joe Rogans accessing p2p bitcoin applications.
At time of publication, bitcoin was changing hands for $26,158 ahead of today’s US CPI release (at 8:30am EST). This announcement could be crucial for the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision tomorrow. According to forecasts, the Federal Reserve may refrain from raising the key interest rate for the first time since March 2022.
Featured image from NotebookCheck, chart from TradingView.com