Apple cracking down on gif search terms in iOS 10 Messages after porn discovery

Posted:
in General Discussion edited September 2016
Apple appears to be applying heavy-handed moderation tactics to a newly introduced gif search iMessage app in iOS 10 that inadvertently retrieved pornographic images, as queries for seemingly innocuous words no longer yield results.


Source: Gizmodo


Apple released iOS 10 on Tuesday with a new iMessage API that opens the once walled-off messaging platform to developers. The feature offers extensibility to standalone apps and controlled access to web-based assets, among other data.

While developers are already taking advantage of the API to market bite-sized apps through the iMessage App Store, Apple also includes its own set of first-party titles to get users started. Unfortunately, Apple seemingly forgot the internet is full of porn.

As Gizmodo reports, users trying out Apple's #Images iMessage app, which returns gifs and images related to a search term, inadvertently stumbled onto questionable content -- questionable content being hard core porn. For example, Deadspin discovered a particularly graphic gif when querying the term "hard."

Apple caught wind of the situation and is putting the clamps on its own app. Since the #Images iMessage app is powered by Bing, Apple is blocking requests for terms that could lead to provocative content, a severe but effective method of content control. Alongside obviously explicit words, Apple is also blacklisting seemingly innocent terms like "huge" and "bounce" as part of the roving ban.

It also appears that Apple is cleaning results where it can, for example "sideboob" yields fewer -- and cleaner -- results than previous queries for the same term, the report said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Why worry, tried Google?
  • Reply 2 of 24
    Sometimes, it's fun to be journalist.
    Frogbait
  • Reply 3 of 24
    Of course Apple will monitor this, its not a big deal unless you are a filthy minded journo looking for some page hi.....

    gid damn it ..... you got me to click
    bestkeptsecretFrogbait
  • Reply 4 of 24
    Oh, someone's gonna file a class action suit.
    jasenj1
  • Reply 5 of 24
    How is "Nipslip" and "sideboob" seemingly innocuous?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 24
    No more "reverse cowgirl"?
     :'( 
    edited September 2016
  • Reply 7 of 24
    sockrolid said:
    No more "reverse cowgirl"?
     :'( 
    What is reverse cowgirl?  Is that an Android app?
  • Reply 8 of 24
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    How the heck are these gif apps legal? You could search embarrassing celebrity moments, cartoon characters and brand products. I was surprised to see Apple had included one.
    zroger73
  • Reply 9 of 24
    I'd say it's bing who is doing the work here since it's their moderation features which are being skirted.
    nolamacguy
  • Reply 10 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    So much for artificial intelligence search algorithms.
    maciekskontaktSpamSandwich
  • Reply 11 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    sockrolid said:
    No more "reverse cowgirl"?
     :'( 
    What about Nasty Sanchez?
  • Reply 12 of 24
    it's disingenuous to fault apple for porn gifs (as the source article does), rather than Bing. google has a "safe search" mode that i think is on by default, i'd expect the same from MS. 
  • Reply 13 of 24
    it's disingenuous to fault apple for porn gifs (as the source article does), rather than Bing. google has a "safe search" mode that i think is on by default, i'd expect the same from MS. 
    But shouldn't Apple make sure quality control is up to par? It is Apple that released this. Stop always shifting the blame to someone else besides Apple. They do make mistakes often just like everyone else. Apple does just happen to correct some of the mistakes better than others.
    edited September 2016
  • Reply 14 of 24
    Potter Stewart would be happy.
  • Reply 15 of 24
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    There goes my search for "huge bouncing sports balls" 
  • Reply 16 of 24
    I've known what an animated GIF was since handheld cell phones had retractable antennae. However, I was caught off guard after upgrading my iPhone 6 to iOS 10 when a bunch of low-quality, animated GIFs popped up unexpectedly while I was composing a text message. The whole idea of a bunch of grainy, random, amateurish animations - many of which looked appeared to be of questionable taste - struck me as very un-Apple-like.
    rcfa
  • Reply 17 of 24
    Oh, someone's gonna file a class action suit.
    Yep. I was pretty amazed that the GIFs appear to be random images from around the web. Apple opened themselves up for some serious embarrassment here.
    rcfa
  • Reply 18 of 24
    lkrupp said:
    sockrolid said:
    No more "reverse cowgirl"?
     :'( 
    What about Nasty Sanchez?
    Stinky Hitler?
  • Reply 19 of 24
    What about "wardrobe malfunction"? I'm gonna try that now...
  • Reply 20 of 24
    In Belgium and France and maybe elsewhere, the #images app disappeared all together about a week ago. Around the release of the GM
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