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Controversial App for High School Students Banned from Apple Store

Controversial App for High School Students Banned from Apple Store

A social networking app for high school students have been removed from Apple’s App Store for the second time in a week.

This time, the app, After School, was removed “for violating two App Store guidelines prohibiting inappropriate content,” said an article on Recode.net.

Apple pulled the app, the article said, “amid growing concern over the threats of violence and bullying that have been occurring on it.”

“After School was cited for violating the ‘personal attacks’ and ‘objectionable content’ categories of Apple’s App Store Guidelines. Apple was likely pointing to these two violations:

  • 14.1 — Any App that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected.
  • 16.1 — Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.”

Developer Cory Levy said Apple’s decision to remove the app from the App Store “doesn’t mean it is gone for good,” the article said.

“He submitted a new version of the app to Apple for review on Wednesday,” said the article. “Levy said that version includes a new reporting system that automatically removes flagged content from a user’s stream. Any such flagged content will be investigated within 24 hours, he added.”

The app, Levy said, “will continue to be an anonymous place for kids to post and we’ll continue to stay on top of the safety of our community,” according to the article.

“Since its launch, After School has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons,” he said. “Last week, students using the app in Ohio and Michigan anonymously threatened to bring guns to school. A third shooting threat at a Detroit high school Wednesday resulted in an arrest after After School provided non-public information to officials investigating it.”

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor

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