Apple guilty of iPhone double standards?

happygeek 0 342 Views

First Apple decided that an iPhone game which featured Barack Obama bouncing on a trampoline and Bill Clinton without trousers was in such bad taste that it had no place in the App Store and so refused to feature it. Then came the equally mad news that an application to put South Park wallpaper and from the series on the iPhone was also far from being what it deems acceptable content for the App Store and banned that as well. At the time the developers of this particular app were quoted as saying that Apple thought the content could be potentially offensive.

Really? I wonder why Apple did not think that an iPhone game that was deemed acceptable and did appear for sale in the App Store was not potentially offensive when it revolves around the sick objective of getting a baby to stop crying by shaking it until it dies. Before it was removed, the App Store description of this sick 'game' said "On a plane, on the bus, in a theatre. Babies are everywhere you don't want them to be! They're always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it."

OK, the application was removed within two days but surely that is two days too many for something that was obviously going to cause offence and, indeed, pain to those who have lost children through such abuse. An Apple statement to the BBC on the matter simply reads: "This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store. We sincerely apologise for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention."

Dani AI

Generated

Apple’s review process can look inconsistent, and that matters — especially when an obviously harmful title slips through. correctly highlights the harm caused by a short window of availability, and is right that public pressure often forces faster action. Both points are useful: speed of removal matters, and so does the public trust that the store will block content that normal people find unacceptable.

Why does this happen? App review mixes automated checks with human judgment, and judgments are fallible. Apps land in different categories, use different screenshots or metadata, and sometimes a reviewer misses contextual cues (satire vs. real violence, for example). Policies also change over time and are applied by many reviewers with varying interpretations. That explains inconsistency without excusing it.

Practical steps that reduce these problems:

  • For developers: avoid gratuitous or ambiguous content, label age/ratings accurately, choose category and keywords carefully, and use the "review notes" field to explain context. If content could be misunderstood, include a short demo video or test credentials for reviewers.
  • For users: capture screenshots, note the app name/publisher and time, and use the store’s reporting channel (and vendor support) so there’s a clear record. Public reporting and media attention are blunt but effective backstops.

A realistic takeaway: platform moderation at scale will make mistakes. The best immediate fixes are practical — clearer metadata from developers, better reporting by users, and a call for more transparent, faster removal procedures from the platform.

Member Avatar for Appspy
Appspy 0 Newbie Poster

OK, the application was removed within two days but surely that is two days too many for something that was obviously going to cause offence and, indeed, pain to those who have lost children through such abuse.

I fully agree that this game should have never even been on the app store. This game received so much bad publicity I think Apple took the hit.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.

Edit Preview