Apple pulls WikiLeaks App from iTunes store

by Steve Ragan - Dec 21 2010, 21:08

The talk of the town on Tuesday, for anyone following news on WikiLeaks, is that Apple has pulled an app carrying the WikiLeaks name from the iTunes store. The reason, according to Apple, is that it violated developer guidelines. Unlike other cases, this isn’t an attack on WikiLeaks, this looks more like a case of business as usual for Apple.

The 'WikiLeaks App' in question was priced at $1.99 USD, and displayed the official Twitter feed for WikiLeaks, the hash tag posts related to #WikiLeaks, and a tab with links to 'Cablegate' documents.

In a statement released to the press, the only thing Apple would comment on was that it removed the WikiLeaks App because “it violated developer guidelines. An app must comply with all local laws. It may not put an individual or target group in harms way.”

For those keeping score, the removal explanation cites sections 14.1 and 22.1 of Apple's developer guidelines:

14.1 - Any app that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harms way will be rejected.

22.1 - Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer's obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.

Given that WikiLeaks data is free, the dumped application is a bit redundant. Anyone with an RSS application or Twitter account can follow the hash tags and official WikiLeaks account.

Apple will say nothing further on the removal, but UK broadsheet The Guardian noted that the WikiLeaks application could have been pulled due to solicitation.

A teaser from the Guardian explains that idea, saying: “Apple's hard line on apps that seek in-app donations could have been the element that led to it being pushed off the App Store - but is that hard line justified?”

In an interview with the newspaper, Nick Aldridge, chief executive of MissionFish, a charity founded on raising money for other charities, said that Apple has continued its policy to block charitable donations from within all of its apps.

“Instead, would-be donors have to send texts or open browser windows to donate, which (broadly speaking) they don't,” said Aldridge. “We'd collaborated with PayPal to add a donations function to their main iPhone App, which went live at the end of August and raised $10,000 in the first couple of months.

“Once we'd properly integrated a disaster response within the App, I suspect it would have raised millions. However, Apple kicked it off the platform in October, with no explanation of why they'd changed their mind,” he added.

The Guardian’s coverage is worth a read for anyone interested in the charitable side of the App Store.

Apple is, of course, free to remove apps at will, and it has done so several times in the past. This time, however, there is no clear explanation as to how this particular application violated Apple's law, or whether it was defamatory, offensive, or mean-spirited.

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