Apple defends its decision to allow Infowars in the App Store

BuzzFeed:

Apple will continue to allow the Infowars Official mobile application in its App Store, the company confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday, just days after banning several podcasts associated with the conspiracy site.

On Sunday, as first reported by BuzzFeed News, Apple took down the entire library of five of the six Infowars podcasts from its iTunes and Podcasts apps. The action was decisive, with Apple laying out a clear reason for removal: The podcast content violated the company’s hate speech guidelines.

Less clear, though, is why Apple has chosen to keep the Infowars app up — which allows users to livestream in high definition the very same programs that it deemed hateful in podcast form. In its response to questions from BuzzFeed News, the iPhone maker suggested that the Infowars Official app had not violated the company’s guidelines.

Apple is caught between a rock and a hard place on this but it’s a situation of their own making.