Apple’s Puritanical Cull Continues
February 22nd, 2010
Continuing the sweep we saw the beginnings of last week, Apple has been pulling down apps that have even the tiniest bit of titillation. Not content with just hitting softcore porn and bikini apps, Cupertino have yanked apps that feature characters in booty shorts. It’s being reported that over 5,000 apps have been cut, in what can only be called a brutal cull of anything sexual.
The creator of the Wobble app talked to Apple to try and get to the bottom (heh) of what they would and wouldn’t allow. This is what he found:
1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)
3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble “overtly sexual!)
7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)
He raises an interesting point: the Playboy app is still up, as are the Olympics ones—even though Apple says skating outfits are banned. Maxim has had theirs pulled. What about GQ, which often includes semi-nude pictorials with their articles.
To call this anything except puritanical repression would be disingenuous. Let’s not forget that the app store has a fully functional content rating system, and the iPhone has parental locks to prevent people from getting unauthorized content.
For Apple to suddenly decide to pull content which they don’t like smacks of a childish tantrum. Apple already strictly enforced the no-nudity rules (even though they have a rating which should allow it), and now they’re pulling off everything even vaguely sexual? That’s more than a little disturbing.
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