Apple App Store Policy: Apple Is Not Afraid of Gay People After All

Apple App Store Policy: When it comes to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s App Store approval policy, the Cupertino-based company knows one thing to be true: it cannot make everybody happy all the time.

While Apple does its best to be fair to every publisher, there are times when the company has to step in and lay down the law. It once appeared that this is what happened with a recent digital comic issue of SAGA.

According to The Guardian, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) seemed to be fighting against the release of the “well-respected comic created by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.”

However, just when things were looking bad for both sides, Apple reversed its direction, but not before some outlets questioned if the company was “homophobic.”

Here is what Vaughan wrote in an official company blog post:

“As has hopefully been clear from the first page of our first issue, SAGA is a series for the proverbial “mature reader.” Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow’s SAGA #12 from being sold through any iOS apps. This is a drag, especially because our book has featured what I would consider much more graphic imagery in the past, but there you go. Fiona and I could always edit the images in question, but everything we put into the book is there to advance our story, not (just) to shock or titillate, so we’re not changing.”

As you can see, Vaughan was none too happy with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s initial decision to ban the comic.

The good thing is that the banning was overturned, according to The Guardian, allowing both sides to move forward without any (or many) hard feelings.

The Guardian article goes on to explain where the misunderstanding took place:

“The problem was that this was less censorship by Apple, and more self-censorship by one of SAGA’s distributors on the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store. ComiXology – one of the most popular digital comics aggregator operating on iOS and other platforms – confirmed its role in a blog post from its chief executive David Steinberger.”

It is a wonder how more situations like this don’t come up time after time. Obviously, SAGA #12 is toeing the line in terms of what is acceptable, or so some people think, which caused some issues.

There is no doubt that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has had to ban digital media in the past, this seems to be more of a misunderstanding than anything else.

To see the comic, check out the next page:

Note: The uncensored image can be seen here.

What are your thoughts on this situation? Share your opinion in the comment section below.

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