Apple Says Oops, Starts Returning Games With Confederate Flag

Apple upset many when it began pulling games from the App Store that included depictions of confederate flags, a move that appeared to be an overreaction to the current movement by businesses and state governments to nix the flag. Apps were removed that included the flag for educational or historical reasons, such as historical games that included confederate flags as a necessary part of being accurate. Fortunately this nonsense was short lived, and Apple has reversed some of its bans.

Developers of educational apps and historical games began getting messages from Apple stating that their app had been removed for displaying the confederate flag in an offensive/mean spirited way — something that was obviously not true for many of those on the receiving end. Apple's official statement has been:

We have removed apps from the App Store that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways, which is in violation of our guidelines. We are not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses.

The relevant part being the last sentence of that statement. Apple has further clarified things, telling TechCrunch that it is working to get those that fall under the educational and historical categories back into the App Store, as they weren't meant to be removed in the first place. Of course, not all of the apps are historical or educational and will likely not be returning.

SOURCE: TechCrunch