App Store

Apple defends decision to allow Infowars in the App Store, saying it supports ‘all points of view’

Chance Miller | Aug 8 2018 - 4:59 pm PT

After removing five Infowars podcasts earlier this week, Apple announced in a statement today that the Infowars application itself will remain available on the App Store for the time being. The statement, obtained by BuzzFeed News, explains that Apple supports “all points of view” being represented on the App Store…

Earlier this week, Apple removed five Infowars podcasts from the iTunes and Podcasts applications, saying the content violated its hate speech guidelines. Despite that removal, however, the Infowars app remained live on the App Store – and grew tremendously in terms of downloads.

The “Infowars Official” application for iOS allows users to stream Infowars content – the same content Apple deemed unfit for Podcasts and iTunes.

In today’s statement, Apple explained that it “strongly supports all points of view being represented in the App Store.” The company noted that the apps are required to be “respectful to users with differing options” and must follow the App Store’s guidelines.

“We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store, as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing opinions, and follow our clear guidelines, ensuring the App Store is a safe marketplace for all,” the company said in a statement.

Further, Apple says that it continually monitors apps for violations of its guidelines and will remove any app featuring content that violates those guidelines, or that is harmful to user:

“We continue to monitor apps for violations of our guidelines and if we find content that violates our guidelines and is harmful to users we will remove those apps from the store as we have done previously.”

Today’s statement from Apple corroborates a report yesterday that indicated the company had no intentions of removing the Infowars application. That same report also said that Tim Cook and Eddy Cue personally met over the weekend to discuss the decision to remove Infowars podcasts.