Yesterday Apple abruptly removed the mega-popular 500px from the iTunes App store today citing the fact that users can search for photos that feature nudity.
I caught up with 500px CEO and co-founder Oleg Gutsol for a comment:
“Apple’s problem with the app is essentially that it was too easy to find nude photos by using the search function of the app. That functionality has been there since the beginning of our development of the app. This functionality previously has been something you had to explicitly enable “show nude content” on you account online. But that was not strict enough for Apple. They voiced concern earlier – so we created the opt in feature – but then Monday night things changed. We’re working with them on it and I’m it will be fixed soon. The result will be that no nude content will be searchable on the iOS platform. Android apps will stay the same. Google has not expressed concerns.” – Oleg Gutsol
The 500px app has amassed nearly 1 million downloads over the past 16 months and 80M page views per day.
Ironically, Oleg was on an important episode of chasejarvisLIVE last year: The Evolution of Your Creative Rights with the ASMP and Larry Lessig. We’re sending Oleg and his team the best of luck. Sounds like they have it under control.
The United States of Apple has it’s own freedom of speech and expression. Assimilate to our moral code or join the Androids.
Dammit, didn’t see the earlier comments
Maybe Apple should remove Safari from iOS as well. I mean, someone might use it to search for nudes.
Apple’s apparent quest for purity is so annoying…
I find it ironic and disturbing that 500px can get pulled from the app store because users can find nude content but the NRA first person shooter game is marketed as appropriate for ages 4+. When will Apple show the same moral authority on violence?
Nice observation! Damn problem across American media and entertainment – guns and death good, nipples bad…