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Apple yanks games with Confederate flags from the App Store (update)
Following the lead of other major retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Etsy and eBay in removing products featuring the Confederate flag, Apple has reportedly begun removing apps that feature the Stars and Bars from its online store. The apps most affected are, unsurprisingly, Civil War games like Ultimate General: Gettysburg and Civil War.
Update: In a statement to TechCrunch, Apple said it is only removing software that uses the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways, which violate the existing guidelines. The company says it is working with any developers of educational or historical apps that were removed to get them back in the App Store.
Ultimate General's developer confirmed via tweet that it's app had been pulled from the App Store for that reason:
Our official response about the removal of our game from AppStore. Please read at the below link:... http://t.co/1kIGlR1Jsk
— Ultimate_General (@GeneralUltimate) June 25, 2015
As Polygon points out, basically any depiction of the Confederate flag (even in its proper historical context) appears to be enough for Apple to nix an offending app. What's more, Google looks to have taken similar action and removed apps featuring the flag from Play. We've reached out to Apple for confirmation that the flag is the reason behind the removal of these apps and will update once they reply with comment.
Apple:
"We have removed apps from the App Store that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways, which is in violation of our guidelines. We are not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses."
