Apple’s announcement last week that it was cracking down on some “hookup apps” sparked widespread confusion and concern that the company planned to remove dating apps – particularly ones such as Grindr and Scruff that cater to the LGBTQ+ community – from its app store.
Viral tweets and articles condemned the company for banning the gay app during Pride month, while some users mulled over a switch to Android to avoid the reported ban. The controversy on Twitter prompted the company to clarify its stance and say Grindr is not going anywhere at this time.
A spokesman from Apple told the Guardian that the company has always banned apps dedicated to pornography, and that the update is meant to codify those policies. He said dating apps such as Grindr and Scruff would not be rejected based on the new guidelines.
The guidelines ban “overtly sexual or pornographic material” including “‘hookup’ apps that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution”. The company defines this as “explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”.
Apple’s spokesman said the only apps that would be affected were those primarily focused on pornography or that facilitate human trafficking under the guise of being used for hookups. The company did not name any apps that would be affected.
The new rules and requirements for app makers were announced as part its Worldwide Developers Conference last week. A spokesman from Grindr told the Guardian in a statement the company did not anticipate being affected by the new policy. Scruff declined to comment.
“Grindr has a longstanding, strong relationship with Apple,” he said. “Per our terms of service, Grindr does not allow solicitation of prostitution and actively blocks and bans users that attempt such behavior.”
Still, internet freedom advocates say Apple’s vast power over the App Store poses unique risks to members of the LGBTQ+ community. The company has been accused in the past of censoring certain apps in the store, especially outside the US.
In May, it was reported that the company had removed a number of apps from the Chinese App Store, including apps from foreign news outlets and gay dating apps.
A report released on Monday by the human rights group Fight for the Future and Chinese censorship watchdog group GreatFire found Apple had complied with government requests to remove LGBTQ+ content hundreds of times. It showed 1,377 documented cases of app access restrictions, in 152 App Stores around the world. Apple refuted the report, noting that in many cases these apps were removed voluntarily by developers and not by Apple itself.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community, sex workers, and other marginalized groups stand to be most negatively affected by Apple’s “continued monitoring, surveillance, censorship, and blockage of apps”, said Sarah Roth-Gaudette, the executive director of Fight for the Future.
“This monopoly, along with Apple’s compliance with orders from authoritarian governments to restrict LGBTQ+ content, is a dangerous cocktail that shows how the queer community is being isolated by one of the most powerful tech companies in the world,” she said.