This response is a much worse spin than that allegedly purported by the app author. So an app potentially flags net neutrality violations, why the fuck does Apple care? What's the exact app store rule that forbids random, inaccurate judgements?

I've argued this multiple times, but HN seems to not understand Apple's dominance in the app market. If your app isn't on the Apple app store, and your business model depends on payments (not advertising), then you're irrelevant in Western Europe, US and far East Asia. In the market segment that pays for apps & software, Apple is the dominant channel. In most other industries, such a pole position would qualify as a monopoly, but Apple is great at deflecting scrutiny, or the regulators are in their pockets. In either case, their BS app approval process is horrible for the industry, including the end consumers.

In the history of general purpose computing, never ever has a company sold hardware to the customer transferring ownership rights to the customer, and then locked the device up to apps approved by the hardware manufacturer, going as far as taking a 30% cut. How this is flying past regulators is anyone's guess, and as more time progresses, people will begin to think that running apps on hardware they own is a privilege, not a right. Ludicrous!!