Is Apple intentionally removing erotic novellas from iBooks charts in the UK?

The Telegraph reports that a number of erotic novels have been mysteriously removed from the top selling list of iBooks in the UK, including such titles as “Blonde and Wet, the Complete Story”.

The books apparently disappeared from the charts overnight according to the Telegraph, which, with Apple’s history of keeping it’s devices PG-13, has the Telegraph asking if this is intentional on Apple’s part. The paper reached out to some analysts as well:

“Book chart analysts said it was unlikely that all the erotic titles could have dropped out of the list at the same moment without being deliberately removed.”

Just to be 100% clear, erotic books, including “Blonde and Wet, the Complete Story“ are still available through iBooks (at least in the US, we’re checking to 1000% sure for the UK): the story, if true is that the books are no longer on the top charts in the UK.

Apple declined to comment to the Telegraph. Let’s for a second say that Apple were to start to intentionally remove erotic content from either the iBook charts and/or altogether (which we’re not saying it is or will do either, but just for argument’s sake based on its past actions of banning certain apps): this could become a very large issue.

Aside from outright censoring of books, what would it mean for other ebook apps on iOS devices? Does Apple plan to ban the Kindle app because of the kinds of books it sells? And if it doesn’t, why wouldn’t consumers just buy their erotic novellas from Amazon instead, skipping iBooks all together?

On the other hand, there is the flip side of this story, that Apple is trying to shield children from certain content, and perhaps its solution is to simply not promote these titles on their Top Charts lists without outright banning them from iBooks. Whether or not this is happening (or whether you agree with this approach if it is), again, is all speculation.

We’ll certainly keep an eye on this story moving forward and update if anything new comes in.

Notes: We’re not 100% sure if this Top Charts was UK specific or not, as the Telegraph wasn’t specific. The UK does have it’s own list, however, which does not match up the Top Charts in the US.