Apple app store bans some sexual content apps
It looks like the morals squad at the Apple App Store has moved back into high gear and has begun a process of removing apps with sexual content from online sales in iTunes.
In a rather sudden move, Apple is now refusing to sell certain iPhone and Touch apps that contain overtly sexual content. Some developers are receiving emails saying that their apps will no longer be sold and attempts to download some sexy apps are being met with errors. According to a TechCrunch story, developer Jon Atherton received the following email from Apple announcing that they were pulling his Wobble iBoobs app from the store:
The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.
We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you believe you can make the necessary changes so that Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored) complies with our recent changes, we encourage you to do so and resubmit for review.
Sincerely,
iPhone App Review
The overall situation is still not perfectly clear. Apparently some apps with sexual content are still available for download while others of a similar nature are not. This may be a situation in which Apple is searching through all of its apps, which would take a while, weeding out those with sexual content as it goes. Or it may be that the site changes have not yet been propagated to all of Apple’s servers. Since many of these apps have been around for a while, this is hardly a case of closing the barn door early. Instead, it would seem to be a calculated move to change the tenor of iTunes and the App Store.
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February 21st, 2010
Amazing!
I made two posts to this thread yesterday that appeared immediately after I posted them. Now they have disappeared.
Is Apple Corp censorship alive and well?