Google classifies the Reddit is Fun app as porn, boots it from Google Play

Remember when Steve Jobs was going on a tear by answering tons of customer support questions? In one famous exchange in regards to Apple removing an app inadvertently and becoming the “moral police”, Jobs responded with:

Fiore’s app will be in the store shortly. That was a mistake. However, we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and (sic) Android phone.

Apparently Google doesn’t want that reputation anymore, as it has decided to kick out a fan-created Reddit app called “Reddit Is Fun” for having “sexually explicit material”, according to Android Police.

The creator of the app, which has a lite and pay version, posted this thread on Reddit as soon as he found out that the app was removed:

Wow. I wasn’t expecting this. I got 2 emails from the Google Play Store telling me my apps, reddit is fun lite and pro, have been banned for sexually explicit material.

I’m not sure how to go about appealing this. After all it’s true that reddit content includes NSFW content. Not sure exactly why my app was singled out and the other reddit apps weren’t, though.

Any thoughts? Should I even bother appealing? As always I appreciate your input, /r/android. Thanks.

EDIT: I posted on Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/108576990588738594191/posts/8LfJmKX48R2 maybe it would help to gain awareness through that avenue? Thanks for all your support, guys.

Reddit Is Fun recently updated to version 2.0, which featured subreddits on the main page of the app. For any community site, especially Reddit, some NSFW material is bound to pop up.

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The Android Market Google Play has a rating called “high maturity” for apps such as this, so it’s a bit peculiar that Reddit Is Fun got banned. Since Google Play has no official review system that involves humans for such content, it’s likely that some prude concerned Android users flagged the app. Apple on the other hand has an extremely strict review process, and Reddit Is Fun doesn’t appear on the App Store at all, whether that’s by choice or not we don’t know.

It appears that Android isn’t for porn after all. We’ll keep you updated on whether Reddit Is Fun makes its way back into Google Play for download.