Vine slapped with 17+ rating because of porn

Twitter’s video sharing application for the iPhone known as Vine recently ran afoul of the censors over at Apple due to pornographic content uploaded by users of the app.

Unsurprisingly, Vine recently announced a new policy requiring users to confirm they are at least 17 years old before downloading and running the application. As you may recall, when Vine first launched, hard-core pornography reportedly showed up in the “editor’s picks” section of the application.

Of course, Vine isn’t the only application to run afoul of Apple’s sensitivities due to pornographic material. Indeed, the photo sharing service 500px was removed and forced to return with a 17+ rating, while Tumblr also updated its app, requiring users to be at least 17 years old to download. When Vine first launched it was rated for ages 12 and up. While much the content conforms to that age rating, some of it does not.

Developers of the Vine application also censored pornography related searches after the original controversy broke. Of course, parents concerned about their kids using applications such as Vine or others that provide access to pornographic material should understand that anyone can click that okay button. Meaning, you will have to set filters on your smartphone to block such applications.

Along with the new age restrictions, the update to version 1.0.5 of Vine fixes bugs and adds a number of new features, including the ability to report or block profiles.