Apple removes Vine as 'Editors' Choice' in App Store amid hardcore porn concerns
The Twitter-owned short video sharing app Vine on Monday was stripped of its Editors' Choice designation and was removed from the Featured section of the App Store after media caught wind of the service's ability to weed out pornographic content.
Vine has deprecated the "#porn" search string from the app,
but others have cropped up in its place. | Source: Vine
Adding to Vine's woes was a pornographic clip that was briefly promoted as an "Editor's Pick" shortly after its release last Thursday, leading some to question whether the new video sharing service has a "porn problem." As reported by CNET, Vine responded by taking down the video and issuing an apology, citing "human error" as the cause of the mistake.
Buzz gathered around Vine's adult content over the weekend as it was discovered that users could easily find nude pictures and hardcore pornography by using the "#porn" search function. The service has since removed the hashtag, but it appears as though other variations on the search term have risen to take its place.
While the presence of lewd material on iOS is nothing new -- and has always been present on the platform with access to the Internet from Apple's own Safari web browser -- the company's guidelines for third-party apps distributed through the App Store strictly prohibit such content.
Most recently the popular photo-sharing app 500px was yanked from App Store as users were able to search for nude pictures. For its part, the app's developer's claim the built-in safeguards are stringent enough to meet Apple's guidelines. For example, when new users download the app, the default settings are set to "safe search" mode that filters out nude images. In order to disable the safe search option, users must exit the app and make changes to personal account settings through the 500px desktop website.
Vine has deprecated the "#porn" search string from the app,
but others have cropped up in its place. | Source: Vine
Adding to Vine's woes was a pornographic clip that was briefly promoted as an "Editor's Pick" shortly after its release last Thursday, leading some to question whether the new video sharing service has a "porn problem." As reported by CNET, Vine responded by taking down the video and issuing an apology, citing "human error" as the cause of the mistake.
Buzz gathered around Vine's adult content over the weekend as it was discovered that users could easily find nude pictures and hardcore pornography by using the "#porn" search function. The service has since removed the hashtag, but it appears as though other variations on the search term have risen to take its place.
While the presence of lewd material on iOS is nothing new -- and has always been present on the platform with access to the Internet from Apple's own Safari web browser -- the company's guidelines for third-party apps distributed through the App Store strictly prohibit such content.
Most recently the popular photo-sharing app 500px was yanked from App Store as users were able to search for nude pictures. For its part, the app's developer's claim the built-in safeguards are stringent enough to meet Apple's guidelines. For example, when new users download the app, the default settings are set to "safe search" mode that filters out nude images. In order to disable the safe search option, users must exit the app and make changes to personal account settings through the 500px desktop website.
Comments
#pornandchicken
#Pornichet
#pornvine
Long live Safari!
What a bunch of idiots.
I think the bigger issue is Apple approving one app (Vine by Twitter) and not 500px. It smells of blatant favourtism to a key partner when they let Twitter get a free pass but not others. I don't really care how Apple comes to these decisions, as long as it's consistent and fair for all developers including their key partners.
The policy encourages jail breaking. Apple also removed the excellent iKamasultra App, but left tens of knock off apps.
The problem is that Apple isn't consistent. As I stated in another post, you can do the same thing in Bing and Google's apps. You have more porn available in those apps as well.
Yes, but the apps in question do not contain porn. They merely allow a person to search for porn/nude content amongst tons of non-porn/nude content. To find nudes in the 500x app, you actually had to shut safe search off using a desktop computer. Yet, with the Bing and Google apps I can find porn within the apps as well. Apple's policy displaces favoriticism to big companies. It is Apple's store and it can do what it wants, but the policy risks pissing off developers and users alike (it has me).
Out of curiosity I did a test using a few common porn terms using Safari and the Google app then chose images for results. Safari returned G results, in other words nothing like the terms entered. Safari will show you a lot of cats and roosters though if that is your fetish.
Google on the other hand returned the expected results as did a few other browsers. So it seems like Apple is even limiting Safari as well or certainly make it far harder to see nude picts. If you want to see any nude picts, the Google app/browser, along with twitter, and even Instagram make it very easy to find them. So why pick on this Vine app?
Seems very overly the top puritanical and inconsistent.
Agree completely. If Apple wants to police apps that need a safe-search mode, they should always require the "restrictions" (i.e., parental controls) password to be typed to turn off safe search on iOS (if such a password has been set). Note that it's not really true that you can't put restrictions on Safari, but it's clearly a losing battle.
Love how people are so fucking desperate to get porn in apps, and get all outraged at the 'censorship'. Open a web browser for that. It's Apple's store, they host all the content, are responsible for it, and answer to it. There's no censorship in walmart because they don't stock porn videos and dildos. The iOS store is marketed to all ages, so its completely understandable that they're cautious. Are the policies 100% consistent across every single app and situation in the store? No, because a rational person would realize that its impossible to maintain full consistency with hundreds upon hundreds of millions of apps. Apple tries to maintain some common sense guidelines and I'm sure the people working those jobs try to make the best decisions possible.
The app is still in the store, all they did was take down the massive banner- again, understandable considering how 'porn' and 'vine' stories have been trending in the news recently. The advantages of excercising caution when marketing to such a large demographic outweighs the outrage of a small minority over something that doesn't negatively affect their lives either way. If I was in Apple's shoes, I'd also err on the side of caution to avoid some sensational story from a mom who's kid is getting 'porn' from the appstore, and the damage that may cause the brand, at the risk of pissing off self-righteous nerds who shriek about 'censorship' and 'freedom'.
Plus they likely have a small team on it, some of whom will love porn and others who won't.
Pornandchicken chicken. A popular dish in China. Served with an asian KY sauce.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emig647
??? There was an image included.
#pornandchicken
#Pornichet
#pornvine
It's Mikey's search history.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
Don't laugh. What if the Internets fell out of the sky tomorrow? What if the cloud stopped working? How then would you get yer porn if it's not on your hard disk?
Think about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeanSolecki
This is beyond stupid, it is a degradation of the platform. Now anything that might POSSIBLY contain nudity is being kicked out of the app store? So Apple thinks it is more important to protect porn junkies from themselves (an aim they will absolutely never succeed in) than let those of us who AREN'T looking for nude pictures use a service for whatever else it might do?
What a bunch of idiots.
Churches, public schools, and broadcast television don't allow porn. Let's conclude it's a degradation of those platforms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Churches, public schools, and broadcast television don't allow porn. Let's conclude it's a degradation of those platforms.
I'll give you broadcast television to a degree, although Broke Girls talked about anal sex and showed a lot of used condoms on the episode tonight. But there is plenty of live porn going on in churches and public schools.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Don't laugh. What if the Internets fell out of the sky tomorrow? What if the cloud stopped working? How then would you get yer porn if it's not on your hard disk?
Think about it.
Hey, why do think I have a dedicated 3TB drive?
But seriously (kind of), I guess it would be back to Skinemax. What a sad, sad world that would be.