Obligatory "I'm not a vegan," but this comment seems like it's at least partially mischaracterizing the issue.
Some of the comments removed seem to advocate for a vegan cat diet that specifically includes the amino acids and protein that cats need, albeit sourced in a vegan-friendly way:
I am also not a vet (go figure) but this seems reasonable on its face and lines up with the 5 minutes of Google research that I did. It sounds like not all vegan formulated cat food actually strikes the balance cats need and that this diet would need to be balanced very carefully, but it seems possible to do it in a healthy way, especially if done in concert with a vet and frequent checkups.
I feel like this headline and article are missing the mark. This is clearly aping off of TikTok Live's Gifts system, which works in basically the exact same way. It's crazy to me that the article doesn't mention them at all.
Just like YouTube started supercharging Shorts after TikTok took off, they're chasing that same train again.