Apple's App Store Policy Sparks Clash With Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey: What's The 'Damus' Drama All About

Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have joined forces in a stand against Apple Inc.’s AAPL threat to ban Damus, a decentralized social messaging app backed by the Twitter co-founder. 

What Happened: On Tuesday, the team behind Damus was issued a dire warning by the Cupertino, California-based tech giant that its app is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines — making it susceptible to potential removal from the platform within a mere 14-day timeframe. 

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In the same email to Damus, Apple stated that the Dorsey-backed social messaging app would be allowed to stay on the App Store only if they agreed to remove specific payment functionality. 

Damus, operating on the Nostr platform, faced concerns from Apple regarding its integration with the Lightning Network, a payment protocol facilitating direct Bitcoin exchange within the network without needing external applications. Damus referred to these transactions as “Zaps.”

Apple’s worry stemmed from the potential use of Zaps by content creators to “sell” digital content on the app. The tech giant has a longstanding policy of prohibiting in-app payments for additional content or add-ons unless the transactions go through Apple, which incurs a 30% fee.

Damus subsequently tweeted that they are removing the “zap button” on posts as Apple considered it a form of “selling digital content.” The app makers stated that Zaps would still be permitted on profiles, though the limitations significantly hindered Damus’ functionality.

Expressing his discontent with Apple’s stance, Dorsey took to Twitter to argue against the company’s decision, highlighting that “Tipping on posts is not selling digital content. It’s a form of feedback.” 

He further questioned the rationale behind limiting individuals from sending Bitcoin to one another, emphasizing the potential for building a genuinely global payment protocol for the Internet. He stressed that such an initiative would also yield immense benefits for Apple.

In alignment with Dorsey’s statements, Musk said that if Apple continues to compete against the world, it would inevitably face resistance from the global community, resulting in an unfavorable scenario. 

Apple did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments. 

Why It’s Important: It was reported last year that Twitter was facing a ban from Apple in response to Musk’s decision to reinstate banned accounts of former President Donald Trump and rapper Kanye West. 

Previously, Musk and Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO of Spotify Technology S.A., have also denounced Apple’s App Store guidelines, accusing Apple of maintaining a biased approach that disadvantages competitors. Musk responded to Ek’s remarks, expressing his concern over the issue at hand.

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