Apple reminds us App Store is a walled garden where it sets the rules: certain topics are not allowed for apps

Apple’s curated App Store has long been criticized for long approval times and the tight grip Cupertino keeps on developers. On the flipside of things, Apple fanalysts claim it is the safest one out there as opposed to Android (a claim that has little backing in reality).

However fact remains that some apps just can’t make it on the App Store, ever. What’s interesting, is that it is not the violent shooters, nor games where you drive over people for fun. No, it is thought-provoking apps, games that touch on real-world issues like the war in Syria, the tragedies over rare-earth minerals in Africa, the maltreatment of overseas workers in China.

There are developers that make those kinds of games that are not just fun, but actually eye-opening, provocative.

Interestingly, this is the exact target of Apple censorship. App Store rules shockingly explain the curated app catalog would not tolerate such titles:

“We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.”

What’s shocking here is how frank Apple’s terms and conditions are. No legal weeble-wobble, no metaphors.

Why would Apple want to censor the medium of apps and games that many claim it has reinvented by launching the first mass-market application store for mobile devices? We don’t know the answer to that question.

Apple pulled thought-provoking game Phone Story from its App Store

What Cupertino is basically saying is this: games are a shallow, money-making, entertainment machine and we refuse any attempts to change this. To some limited extent there might seem to be traces of logic in Apple’s statement - after all, it’s a well-known fact that games are the most profitable type of apps.

“I feel that the form of media should be irrelevant, and it’s the content that counts. Games, films, apps, comics, music, and books should all be held to the same standard. To suggest that there is an invisible line that says it’s OK to say something in a book but not in a game? That feels wrong to me,” Endgame: Syria lead designer Tomas Rawlings disagrees.

Let’s not fool ourselves, the medium does not really matter and this type of censorship should not exist in a democratic environment. The reality however is clear - the App Store is not a democratic place, it is a walled garden, a model Apple has long been pushing on users. Whether you want to support that is a whole different question, though. Feel free to speak your mind about this in the comments below.