Roger Fingas
Apple briefly removed several popular Reddit clients from the App Store, after it began cracking down on a feature allowing users to toggle whether "not safe for work" content is displayed by default.
Apps such as Antenna, Eggplant, Narwhal, and Submarine suddenly vanished from the store on Monday — or had updates rejected — because of App Store rule 18.2, blocking apps with user-generated content that is "frequently pornographic."
A Reddit moderator said that two official Reddit clients, Alien Blue and Reddit Official, were asked to be resubmitted to remove a "Safe for Work Browsing" toggle, despite the fact that the feature was developed with help from Apple.
While some titles are now back on the App Store in modified form, others appear to be intact without changes. The developer of Eggplant, for instance, noted that Apple suddenly restored the pulled version, leaving a modified update sitting in the review queue. That may suggest that Apple reviewers changed their interpretation of rule 18.2, though that's uncertain.
Apple has often come under fire for the strictness of its App Store content policies. While almost anything is permitted in video sold on the iTunes Store, censorship is much stricter at the App Store, even when potentially offensive content is incidental to the app's main purpose, as with Reddit clients.
Amber Neely
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
11 Comments
Then Periscope should be banned because there's no shortage of nudeness, and sexual acts being broadcast.
Apple should at least give app developers a chance to submit an update instead of just immediately and without warning yanking apps that have been in the store for years.
Pull and reinstate..That's how I got a bunch of illegitimate kids.
Sadly this seems to be the norm for app review. Pull something, the tech press/rumor sites find out about it and make it public and then the app gets reinstated. Perhaps app review shouldn't be so quick to yank things from the App Store.