Vine, a new video sharing service, has just been removed from Apple’s ‘Editors’ Choice’ list on iTunes. The application was holding the featured spot on the App Store until late this afternoon when it was removed. While no clear reason for the removal of the app’s featured status has been revealed, most are pointing to the service’s porn issue that popped up (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) this morning.
The App Store’s ‘Editors’ Choice’ list is a section of the App Store where App Store editors can promote top apps, usually based on quality merit and not things like downloads and money earned. Most well-designed indie apps make their way onto this list soon after release. Other apps featured in the Editors’ Choice list include Reeder and Wunderlist, and pretty much anyone else you probably have on your iOS device for more than a week.
Since Vine is a video sharing service, people can post pretty much whatever they want to it. While videos can be flagged for removal, it takes time before the risque content is removed. However, the company is working to fix these issues by blocking tags like #porn, among others. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are), there are still work arounds that are allowing the explicit photos to trickle into your timeline.
Recently, 500px, a photo sharing service, had its iOS app pulled from the App Store due to issues like the one Vine is facing. According to Apple’s App Store rules, apps “that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic” are not allowed into the store. Ultimately, Vine could be pulled from the App Store sooner rather than later if Apple feels that the Vine team isn’t doing enough to stop explicit content on the network. It’s also worth noting that Vine is owned by Twitter and that Twitter and Apple have deep ties and connections throughout iOS.
