I think it's way more complicated than this sort of snark makes it out to be. Apple allows content blocking in Mobile Safari. There are some limits to the APIs

I think it's way more complicated than this sort of snark makes it out to be. Apple allows content blocking in Mobile Safari. There are some limits to the APIs they've provided, and one can quibble about how complete they are, but Apple has literally made an ad-blocking API. AdGuard Pro's "local VPN" trick was basically a way to be able to block not only ads in Safari, but ads everywhere, including applications that are connecting to ad networks. And I'm pretty sure this is what Apple is ultimately trying to stop here. You can argue that ads are just absolute evil everywhere and that the distinction between in-app ads and web ads is arbitrary. And, I guess, maybe? Maybe we should have the absolute right, as the device owner, to say to app developers, "Hey, if you were stupid enough to make this app free and try to get money from it by showing me ads, tough cookies for you." But, as the device owner, you also have the absolute right to, well, choose what apps you run, in a way that really isn't true for web sites. I mean, yes, you have the choice of which web sites you visit, but in practice it's way harder to say "if you don't like web sites with horrible, intrusive ads, just don't visit them" than it is to say "if you don't like ad-supported apps, don't download them." And while this is absolutely a subjective perception that may apply only to me and no one else, it would feel just a little bit sleazy to me to use an ad-supported app for free while blocking the ads. If I like the app, I'll pay to make the ads go away if that's an option; if the ads can't be turned off and they're too intrusive, I'll simply stop using the app.