OMG this is insane?
So what guidelines do we have?
How do we know what to do or not to do?
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.
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.
You're kidding right? your comic got removed because of body hair?
I'm sorry I can't understand this.
I feel our blame is misplaced here by blaming apple because, If you have on your phone any app that lets you post photos like pinterest for instance. just search for "shirtless men" and enjoy all those men with hair under their abdominal region.
Also I did some search into apple policy from their website.
Developers can rate their apps into 4 different age ratings.
Rating
Definition
4+
Apps in this category contain no objectionable material.
9+
Apps in this category may contain instances of the following content that may not be suitable for children under the age of 9:
Infrequent or mild cartoon or fantasy violence
Infrequent or mild profanity or crude humor
Infrequent or mild mature, suggestive, or horror or fear themed
12+
Apps in this category may contain instances of the following content that may not be suitable for children under the age of 12:
Infrequent or mild medical or treatment-focused content
Infrequent or mild references to alcohol, tobacco, or drug use
Simulated gambling
Infrequent or mild sexual content or nudity
Frequent or intense profanity or crude humor
Frequent or intense horror or fear themed content
Frequent or intense cartoon or fantasy violence
Infrequent or mild occurrences of realistic violence
17+
Apps in this category may contain instances of the following content that may not be suitable for children under the age of 17:
Unrestricted web access, such as with an embedded browser
Gambling or contests
Frequent or intense mature or suggestive content
Frequent or intense medical or treatment-focused content
Frequent or intense references to alcohol, tobacco, or drug use
Frequent or intense sexual content or nudity
Frequent or intense realistic violence
Link: https://help.apple.com/app-store-connect/#/dev269f11291
Tapas is rated 17+ yet you literally can't have anything allowed in the 17+ category?
And looking back on the infamous 1.1.4 policy from apple:
1.1.4 Overtly sexual or pornographic material, defined by Webster’s Dictionary as "explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings."
Link: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#objectionable-content2
So excuse me when I say that this purge that's happening on tapas doesn't make any sense.
If this is seriously a problem for Tapas why don't they make use of the:
Unrestricted web access, such as with an embedded browser
Instead of the message that says just go look for the comic on the website?
Also why most of the wecomics removed on Tapas' 17+ are still allowed on Webtoons 12+ app.
Just think about it.
WOW what the actual hell??
It's nice Tapas told you specifically what Apple had an issue with though!
But really??? DAMN …
I haven't gotten an e-mail for my series (yet), but like the only difference I can think of is your art is in full color and rendered while mine's in black and white with no real shading …
Kudos for sticking to your guns! I too am a proponent for hairy guys (and gals) so I would keep it in as well.
This is actually getting pretty scary if you think about it. The only reason I can imagine they would ban your comic for lower abdomen hair is because they believe it will lead the reader's mind further down the happy trail to the genital region.
This mentality was common a few hundred years ago. People were required to cover their genitals and nipples because sexuality was sinful. Then they had to cover thighs, belly and chest because those were all areas that people believed would remind people of the "sinful regions".
Then people were required to cover arms, lower legs, wrists and ankles because these were all body parts that they believed would lead the mind to the bodyparts nearby, which would lead the mind to the "sinful regions".
It's very dangerous thinking and more often than not it aimed to silence womens sexuality. The prude wave we see going on online right now does this too. It attacks sites and content that is aimed at women and the lgbt, or contains characters thereof, shutting out more and more content under the excuse of it being "too sexual", while straight up pornographic content aimed at cis men is as easily obtainable as ever.
Big brother Apple wants us to cover our ankles to diminish the slightest thought of sin.
This is such a silly reason to block a comic. If it were about my characters I wouldn't change a thing too. Our characters are designed the way WE want them to look and not to appeal to some age restrictions on an app dictated by a big company.
Ankles? I've drawn a guy exposing his calves. Am I going to Apple hell? 
Damn, now I don't even know if I should bother posting my comic on either site. Considering what is it about I have no idea where would I post it to not get deleted ugh.
Honestly every time I'm reading some comic I just can't shake off the feeling that the author had to hold themselves back a lot. Like the main heroes are fighting the unimaginable foes and shit hits the fan but god forbid someone says "shit" or "oh fuck". I know it's not the fault of the creator, but still, it just takes a lot of enjoyment of the comic away 
Maybe it's just me, but I can't really enjoy clean comics like that, unless the fact that they're clean is part of the comic premise.
Keep in mind it's not getting deleted, it's being blocked on the apple app.
And to the whole what about webtoons thing? Well... last I saw the stats were significantly larger than tapas so maybe they can pay? Or they are already harder on the ban hammer normally? Cause I remember people saying how Tapas was easier.
It should be noted that Apple threatened to remove the Tapas app from the store, on the grounds that several of the comics were not what Apple considered suitable content. Tapas had to bend over backwards to avoid the ban, and thankfully they decided to do it in a way that didn't replicate the Tumblr-pocalypse.
Apple are to blame for this, they'd rather throw their weight around and force people to infantalise their content rather than, say, have a more nuanced app store experience where some apps are targeted at adults rather than kids. Honestly Tapas' options were basically a) do nothing and lose the app, b) Ban all adult content from Tapas, or c) try to find some kind of reasonable middle ground. They chose c.
This is the reason I'm censoring my comic on Tapas and Webtoon. Now I'm mulling over where to best post the uncensored version.
Now this really is the Artstation situation all over again. As puritan as possible because the site isn't big enough to make a fuss about it. Can't believe I'll have to censor small swear words out of my future pages even though the comic is mostly PG-13, and it's not even Tapas' fault since they need to keep their app.
I don't think Tap has an issue with swear words, not any cases I've heard of at least.
It's webtoons with their harsher limitations on mature content that led to people censoring words like 'dick' and 'fuck'.
I'm just gonna leave this here:
This is in twitter from the artist of the featured webtoon "Let's play":
Hey,
@tapas_app
. There might be some issues with your new "Apple Guidelines" since I've been informed that my comic "Let's Play", which is literally only a picture stating I've been featured on Webtoons, is a violation of Apple Guidelines . . .
link: https://twitter.com/mongrelmarie/status/1159267137053220865?s=2010
