Digital comic publisher threatened by Apple over adult content

Digital comics publisher Izneo has pulled much of its content from its App Store app, after being cautioned by Apple about selling adult content on the iPad. Izneo has been on the App Store since 2010, but Apple only recently reached out to the company, saying that it had just 30 hours to remove all “adult” comics. Apple didn’t identify the offending titles, so Izneo first pulled over half of its content, and then restored some of the (apparently) less-explicit content later. Still, about 1,500 titles are still absent.

Prohibiting pornography on the App Store is reasonable, but Izneo has been selling comics (mostly French and Belgian titles) for years there now. Obviously that content was only part of a much larger collection. It’s a little disturbing that Apple elected to censor content that’s clearly labeled as being for adults (the app is marked for ages 17+) in such a vague, arbitrary fashion. Izneo is obviously working to stay on the App Store rather than challenge Apple in its own domain, but this seems like this could have been handled differently.

[via TechDirt]

Digital comic publisher threatened by Apple over adult content originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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