Apple’s App Store has had its share of scandals, and the latest started with developer Chillifresh having his app ‘Wobble iBoobs‘ removed, for featuring ‘overtly sexual content’ (according to Apple). The developer protests that’s not the case, but I think the name of the app gives it away, doesn’t it?
This isn’t the first time in my life I’ve heard complaints about free speech being censored where the only examples given are that of pornography. They are almost always bogus. It’s not a free speech issue – these kinds of images aren’t illegal, but organizations and companies are completely within their rights to decide whether they want to be associated with them or not.
If you don’t like their decision, you can go elsewhere. Neither is this a slippery slope towards more sinister censorship, nor is it saying that the only acceptable images of women (for it almost exclusively is women) are those of women in a burqa, as an article on Cult of Mac crassly suggested. I assume it’s just do do with not wanting sexual content in the App Store, and not being associated with content that objectifies women.
The App Store is Apple’s baby, and they can sell what they like in it. I can understand why they might think that having hundreds of apps like Wobble iBoobs and Swimsuit Calendars kind of ruins the cool aesthetic they try to have. The App Store is chock full of rubbish, and on top of the sexism inherent in these tacky apps, I’m happy to see them go just because they’re awful.
Maybe these soft porn-like apps weren’t hurting anyone, but there’s nothing admirable about them either. I think developers who make such lowest common denominator stuff don’t have too much to complain about, as it’s not like they were trying too hard to begin with.
