Ask HN: Apple terminated our dev account over a rogue employee

A tiny delivery app in Africa says Apple pulled the plug on their developer account after a “rogue” employee broke the rules, threatening paychecks for drivers and local shops. They ran to Hacker News begging for a real human at Apple to hear their appeal — and the crowd came alive. The top vibes split in three: pure empathy — “I hope you get this sorted!” — tough-love skepticism — “What did the employee do?” — and practical reality checks: “’Recently’, how long are we talking here?” with reminders that emailing Apple execs can take days. The meta-moment? One commenter declared, “HN is a great customer support forum,” hinting that posting here might actually get Apple’s attention faster than any form. Drama points ramped up as readers pressed for the missing detail — the exact rule-breaking — while side-eyeing the company’s use of a shared machine. The unspoken debate bubbled: platform rules are rules vs. one bad actor shouldn’t wipe out a whole community’s income. Humor peeked through with classic “banhammer” energy and timeline memes (“recently = yesterday or last month?”). It’s a familiar internet showdown: a small team, a giant gatekeeper, livelihoods on the line, and an audience toggling between hugs, receipts, and “hang tight, this might take a few days.”