Skip to main content

Apple stops promoting Vine in wake of porn controversy

Apple stops promoting Vine in wake of porn controversy

Share this story

Vine for iPhone
Vine for iPhone

Twitter's video-sharing app Vine continues to find itself embroiled in a bit of a controversy — after exposing a clearly pornographic video in its Editor's Picks section earlier this morning, Apple has decided to hide the app from view as much as possible in the iTunes Store. As noted by Business Insider, Vine was previously highlighted as an Editor's Choice app pick as early as this morning, but that distinction has now been removed. Vine is no longer listed in Apple's "new and noteworthy" section either, and it isn't even highlighted in the "social networking" section of the App Store — despite the fact that it's the number one free social networking app and the number four overall free app as of this writing.

Of course, Apple isn't saying if Vine's de-promotion is due to the recent porn scandal or if it is just part of the natural ebb and flow of the App Store — but it does feel like a quick reversal to us. There's no telling what Apple will do next, as there's certainly more than enough precedent for the company to yank the app altogether. That said, given its high-profile launch and backing by a major player like Twitter, Apple will likely tread carefully in any further dealings with the Vine.