Apple Just Banned ‘Hookup Apps’ From The App Store
Image: Adult Friend Finder app
Today was the first day of something called WWDC, which is an enormous deal to brainwashed Apple fanboi types, but the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference doesn’t mean much to regular everyday people. But something that happened at the conference today could have an enormous impact on your lonely Friday nights or life in general. According to the Apple-focused site 9to5Mac, Apple just banned hookup apps from the App Store.
Seriously, cis/straight people, it’s you that Apple is hoping won’t care about this
I know to you these are just “hookup apps” and you don’t care
But I met my fiancé on one of these apps. Even in the heart of San Francisco I needed them to find him
And Apple wants to kill them https://t.co/0jzOFhQl13
— Jamie Kyle 🏳️🌈 (@buildsghost) June 7, 2021
Okay, would Apple engineers even realize what a hookup app is? Let’s take a look what they think a hookup app is. According to the newly updated App Store rules, “1.1.4 Overtly sexual or pornographic material, defined by Webster’s Dictionary as ‘explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.’ This includes ‘hookup’ apps that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution.”
This rule is interesting because it's in the middle of a list of rules that apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc. regularly and flagrantly violate. So I'm a little unclear on what they're suggesting.
— Nathan Lawrence 🌈 (@NathanBLawrence) June 7, 2021
That sounds very vaguely worded! The words “may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution” could technically be applied just about any app, from Tinder to Grindr to Facebook Messenger.
Look. Gay “hookup” apps are actually community spaces.
Things that have happened to me on a gay “hookup” app in the last week:
– Discovered a new album I enjoyed
– Reconnected with an old friend
– Found out a local queer bar had reopened and had an open patio— 🤷♂️ (@MattAHorton) June 7, 2021
It’s unclear when these new rules take effect, or whether they will only apply to the new iOS 15 operating system that was announced today. As of press time, we could still find Tinder and Grindr, in the App Store, as well other very intriguing sounding apps called 3Fun, Kinkoo, Hookup & Anonymous Chat, and others that we are definitely going to download before Apple bans them.
Does anyone know which hookup apps specifically are being banned by the Apple store? General consensus is that it will probably hit things like Grindr but I haven't seen anything concrete
— Erica (@Erica_fosk) June 7, 2021
And honestly, whomst among us has never hooked up? This all just seems like more puritanical anti-sex work horseshit, disguised as “fighting trafficking,” not unlike 2018’s FOSTA-SESTA bill. It is almost certainly going to inhibit sex worker justice, and will serve as another example of how eliminating sex worker rights will actually eliminate everyone’s rights.
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