The 500px app for iOS has returned to the App Store after being removed by Apple for nude content, reports Techcrunch. The app has been saddled with a ‘Mature’ 17+ rating and a button that allows for easy reporting of questionable content.
The app had been removed by Apple after it had received complaints from users over how easy it was to view nude content in the app and that some of the nude content was possibly of minors. Apple removed the app even though the 500px team was convinced that they could fix the issue server-side.
Now, tweaks have been made to make it more evident to users that there is nude content in the app and to make it easier for users to flag inappropriate content. As a rule, 500px does not allow pornography in the app, restricting its uploads to ‘artistic nudity’. This nudity, including a dedicated section for it, is still visible in the app when logged in.
500px COO Evgeny Tchebotarev told us that 500px is constantly working on the filtration processes that it uses to make sure that people don’t see nudity unless they’re ok with that. The company also said that “we take the issue of child pornography incredibly seriously. There has never been an issue or one complaint to us about child pornography.”
Whatever changes 500px made to the app, it appears as if Apple was satisfied, as the app is back in the store now.
Apple’s guidelines about pornography and nude content often run aground on the logic that there is freely accessible content of such types available in any web browser. That’s why any app on the App Store that includes access to the web is required by Apple to carry a 17+ Mature rating. Often, this rating includes statements about explicit content and such that will never appear in the app, but technically could, as the app features access to the web.
Including this rating, as well as tweaking the app to make it harder to see nude content accidentally, has apparently satisfied Apple’s concerns for now.
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Image Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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