One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Web3 Social Media

TL;DR

• Apple sent the Damus admins a note which said (we’re paraphrasing): “Hey you know what? I know your app’s been available with the ‘zap’ feature for months, but it goes against our terms. Oh, and you’ve got 14 days to submit a new version or we’ll remove it from the App Store.”

• As the Damus team Tweeted: “Damus doesn’t sell any digital goods or provide features for selling digital goods. It simply has a tip button for facilitating p2p transactions like venmo or cashapp.”

• The Damus case will undoubtedly set a precedent on whether Web3 apps can use the Lightning Network (or other layer-2’s) to send p2p transactions.

Full Story

Back in Feb this year, a decentralized alternative to Twitter – called Damus – went live on the Apple App Store.

Woooo – getting a Web3 social app approved on the Apple App Store is a big deal!

Then yesterday, Apple sent the Damus admins a note which said (we’re paraphrasing): “Hey you know what? I know your app’s been available with the ‘zap’ feature for months, but it goes against our terms. Oh, and you’ve got 14 days to submit a new version or we’ll remove it from the App Store.”

Ooooft.

What’s Apple’s issue?

Apple’s taken issue with a feature called ‘zaps’ which are basically tips.

The Damus app rewards the people who create content on the platform – the users – by allowing other users to ‘zap’ posts. Tips are sent in crypto, peer-to-peer, via the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

But as we all know, Apple loooves taking a cut any time money (or crypto) changes hands in exchange for ‘digital content.’

What does this mean for Damus and Web3 social media?

In the short term it looks like Damus will have to remove the zaps feature from their Apple app in order to keep it available to users.

But this fight is just beginning.

As the Damus team Tweeted: “Damus doesn’t sell any digital goods or provide features for selling digital goods. It simply has a tip button for facilitating p2p transactions like venmo or cashapp.”

Seems like a fair argument.

One of the big value propositions of Web3 social media is the ability for users to be rewarded for the content that they produce (the content that ultimately makes the platform valuable).

The Damus case will undoubtedly set a precedent on whether Web3 apps can use the Lightning Network (or other layer-2’s) to send p2p transactions.

Let’s see how this pans out.