Going through Apple’s App Store is the only way to get an app onto an iPhone and so if Apple blocks an app from participating, it’s game over, whether customers want it or not – a subject of several current anti-trust lawsuits.
In January, following the riot at the US Capital, Apple kicked the social media network Parler off the App Store, suggesting that it had a lack of moderation.
Parler relaunched a new app and submitted it to Apple for review.
However, Apple appears to have declined Parler’s request to be allowed on iPhones.
In January, Apple had given Parler 24 hours notice to create a more extensive censorship system or it would be banned from the App Store.
After Parler was banned by Apple, it was also then banned from Amazon’s web hosting services, meaning the entire platform went down. Amazon was the third big tech platform to ban the company that week – leaving its entire business under threat.
The company’s then-CEO John Matze criticized Apple and Google for “destroying the company.”
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple told Parler on February 25 that, even with the new changes, it was not enough for the platform to be allowed back on iPhones.
Apple pointed to the presence of “hateful, racist, discriminatory content” on Parler as its excuse.
“After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines” Apple wrote to Parler. “There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store.”
“In fact, simple searches reveal highly objectionable content, including easily identified offensive uses of derogatory terms regarding race, religion and sexual orientation, as well as Nazi symbols,” Apple wrote to Parler. “For these reasons your app cannot be returned to the App Store for distribution until it complies with the guidelines.”
Already facing several big tech blows to its business model, Parler reportedly laid off its three remaining iPhone app developers on Wednesday, suggesting the company isn’t hoping to get back on the App Store any time soon.
