No need for your unconstructive argument "Note, however, that apps using TestFlight cannot be distributed to testers in exchange for compensation of any kind,

No need for your unconstructive argument "Note, however, that apps using TestFlight cannot be distributed to testers in exchange for compensation of any kind, including as a reward for crowd-sourced funding." If you have taken the time to read the information posted you would see that the information is relevant on monetization outside of the app. I am just giving possible considerations for the author that they haven't consider in the article, we don't know how the app link has been distributed throughout the last 3 years, maybe they posted a donation link somewhere before and Apple considered this as compensation for the beta distribution of the app.