Jack Dorsey-Based Social Network Nostr's Damus App Banned From China App Store

Based on Apple's review received from Apple, the China Cyberspace Administration has found that the application "includes content that is unlawful in China" because its a "Information Services with attribute of public opinion or capable of social mobilization."

Damus, the app, lives on top of Nostr, a decentralized social network that bills itself as “censorship resistant.” Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey supports Nostr's development with a 14 BTC donation (valued at $245,000 at time of donation).

Even getting damus listed in Apple's global app store has proven challenging for the company because its decentralized nature means there is no moderation of content. The app was rejected multiple times by Apple, according to tweets by Damus, because Apple requires apps to have a mechanism for users to flag objectionable content and block abusive users.

In China, any online platform listed in an online marketplace or accessible by users in-country requires an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license.

As part of the rules, ICP-licensed entities are prohibited from publishing content that “opposes the basic principles determined in the constitution of China”, “damages the honor and interests of the nation”, and “disseminates rumors, disrupts the social order or undermines the social stability,” amongst other things.

The inclusion of support for the Bitcoin Lightning Network is another reason why authorities don’t look kindly on the project because crypto is banned within the country.

Entities that hold a PKI licence are also required to maintain the actual information and IP addresses of individuals who publish and produce content, while providing them to authorities upon request.

Also, China has a foreign investment ban on all information services on the Internet.

Does that make a difference?

Despite China's "big firewall", there are hundreds of thousands of people living in the country active on western social media platforms like facebook, instagram, and twitter through the broad availability of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services.

Members of the crypto community based in China who spoke to CoinDesk say the impact of this ban won’t make much of an impact because many Chinese use VPNs and have their phone’s App Store set to the U.S. or Hong Kong marketplaces.

Part of Damus’ popularity, according to one person, involves the perception that a sort of airdrop is coming to early users, especially those who sign up a lot of new users via their referral code.

This prohibition on Damus will not do much, it was said, because technically crypto is forbidden in China, but is as popular as ever.