"PG13" level comics getting removed from the app

[Capsona]

Wow. I just opened the Tapas app and found a lot of my favorite comics removed. Some of which are incredibly tame. But these comic are still available on webtoon. Are tapas using a different apple ios store than webtoon or what’s exactly going on?

If I have to guess. It’s not the app store this time. It’s probably the ad provider requirements since tapas allows everyone to turn ad revenue from the get go unlike webtoon who have to approve it first.

I don’t know I just don’t like what’s happening specially since it’s happening to already very tuned down comics.

Edit: I mean. Go to the BL genre, sort by popular and have a drink every time you click on a comic and it tells you it’s not available. Now the BL genre seems useless ‘-‘

[WriterLinXiaolong]

If that's true... guess I'll have to censor few episodes and redirect them 🤣

[joannekwan]

Mine still shows up and it's pretty racy.
Like they stated in the original thread, the initial sweep was from detecting certain tags that Apple had flagged.

From the pinned announcement: Michael's first response to users.

[Cavechan]

Is there a reason why there aren't other app stores available? Why does it seem to be only Google and Apple stores? Why no app stores for mature content?

I don't get it. I have an app specifically for playing mobile games so I don't see why there couldn't be other store apps.

[tchotchkeco]

Because there’s really only androids and IPhones. Google has android and and Apple for its IPhone. Since they're in control of the phones they decided to take complete control of the apps allowed in it.

It’s not that someone doesn’t want to make a new App Store. It’s more of they’d have to make their own phone, get people to actually buy the product, and convince people to make apps for it. Sadly, you know people won’t buy a phone they don’t recognize and just call it a Chinese knock off. So people aren’t gonna want to buy a brand they’ve never heard of and will have less features compared to androids and iPhones. Competition is far below to where no one can really climb up this ladder and is forcing everyone to follow the rules or to get out.

I guess what I’m trying to say is...Monopoly™.

[baasinsimple]

Yeah, they were sent things from Apple which caused manual removing, but the regulations from Apple are so goddamn vapid and indistinct and focused on certain tags that they're essentially removing shit that have a 1/100 chance of causing a negative effect on the app, when works like mine, which probably would have to be removed, but go under the radar since growth is so small and updates are so inconsistent.

[keii4ii]

Yeah, I never expected this to happen to HoK... but I guess life is full of surprises.

Some people thought it might've been in error. I suppose that is a possibility, but right now I'm too drained to even ask if that is the case. o(-<

[ratique]

I honestly wonder if it was your extremely censored and tame nude scene. But I can only guess at this point.

Hopefully over time we learn the details of what scenes cause comics to be removed to be able to adjust. But honestly, I don't really want to make adjustments for the sake of Apple. Most of our comics aren't for children.

[Nika]

Is deviantart available on IOS? They also have stuff on that should up the rating, especially since some people don't even tag mature work as mature. If deviantart is okay, then why Tapas shouldn't?

[tchotchkeco]

From what I looked up, yes, it’s on the IOS. Why it’s allowed? I don’t have an answer. I don’t know if things are censored there as well since I’ve never used the app but it is available on the App Store.

[joannekwan]

Bribery could always still be a thing? Bigger sites slip them some dough so their apps can slip by the culling?

[Maps]

I’m also not editing my works to become more viewable. I’ve noticed that it hasn’t slowed down my growth on my novel, so that’s good.

[Nika]

That's what I thought. After all the situation with Deviantart is pretty similar to Tapas, there is optional content that can be mature, there are options to tag works as mature and some people simply censor stuff. Deviantart is a bigger site so I'm not really surprised that they have money to get away with this, but it is still sad

[jensrichard77]

Yeah, I never expected this to happen to HoK

What???
It can’t be that the Apple team is actually reading ALL comics on the entire site... That would be.. Too big a job.
There must be some tags they are looking for?

@keii4ii what tags do you have?

[keii4ii]

I don't know, maybe "shiny" is too sexual for them.

EDIT: I don't think it's the tags for my series. If I'm understanding this correctly, comics that get blocked due to tags don't get notified. Only comics that get blocked due to actual content issues are notified. I could be wrong, though.

[jensrichard77]

OMG this is insane?
So what guidelines do we have?
How do we know what to do or not to do?

[Nika]

Maybe they used content filters to massively scan bunch of comics. I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if a thing like this exist already, but...

Do you remember when Article 13 was being discussed and they said they conten uploaded to the internet would be filtered whether it contains copyright material? Now, they probably have something similar in place, like face recognition but instead it catches censored body parts, blood, people naked and stuff? Obviously it wouldn't be 100% correct all the time, but I don't think they would care.

[jensrichard77]

Scan this Apple. And let’s see what body part you can find

[Nika]

They would probably get you deleted for using phrase "I'm naked" haha

[keii4ii]

I heard back from two different staff members. HoK got blocked because my male characters have visible body hair in the lower abdomen region.

While it would be a simple edit to make, I'm not going to do it. It's extremely important to me that my characters are portrayed the way they are, warts and all, both emotionally and physically. And body hair is often omitted because it's considered "ugly." I am letting my characters be their "ugly" selves. Muffin tops, body hair, huge disproportionate thighs, all of that stuff.

I don't agree with the staff/Apple decision, because you see this level of hair on men wearing family-friendly swim trunks. But at the same time... I understand they had to draw the line somewhere. And when lines are drawn, no matter how good the intentions, there's always a few unfortunate souls who get screwed. I'm one of those souls this time.

Worth mentioning, one of the two emails came from someone who had no obligation to reach out to me. His words were extremely thoughtful. While this whole situation really blows, that thoughtfulness means a lot to me, and will be remembered.