# Apple Legally Required to Acknowledge the Web Exists Apple has had quite the go of it for the last 4-5 years in the legal scene. This week, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers from the Epic v Apple case threw down a decision that [Apple violated her court order back in 2021](https://daringfireball.net/2025/04/gonzales_rogers_apple_app_store_ruling). In light of this news—since appeals take time—Apple has [updated U.S. App Review Guidelines](https://512pixels.net/2025/05/apple-updates-app-review-guidelines/). >- 3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others. >- 3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so. >- 3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront. >- 3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action. [Gruber](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/02/updated-app-review-guidelines-us) surmises it the best. It is baffling that Tim Cook has been this stubborn about this battle. Fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders don't excuse this behavior—and many other legal decisions—this has been bad business. > "In other words, plainly and obviously, in-app purchases must compete with purchase offerings on the web. Which is exactly how the policy should have been for at least the last 10 years. It’s been incredibly frustrating and baffling that Tim Cook has refused to see that this is the obvious and correct path for everyone involved, including Apple itself."