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This would be a perfect example to show to an EU politician.

Sadly not - the lobbyists of the media industry would very much support Apple in this case. That carries a lot of weight for EU politicians.

There is a fair chance apple blocked the app in response to legal or political pressure from the EU.

I would say the chance is very, very slim.

I had the impression that many governments have a very pro-IP stance and little concern about blocking access to

oh, they absolutely do. But in my experience when they block access to something, they do it very publicly, not by backdoor deals with gatekeepers