Apple and Alphabet have raised concerns with Amazon after learning that children can access photos with sexual content on the popular Kindle app and have asked the company to strengthen its content moderation.
The warnings arose from questions posed by Reuters to spokespersons for the three companies about the possibility for users, through the Kindle application, to access and view online photos of nude women and sexual content. The companies raised concerns about violations of their policies, but did not elaborate on how their rules had been violated or any warnings they had issued to Amazon.
Reuters learned of the matter when two families reported that their pre-teenage children downloaded the sexually explicit material through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photos on the Kindle iPhone app. The pornography is also available through Amazon's Kindle store and can be viewed in Kindle app versions.
The parents, who did not want to be named, told Reuters they were initially drawn to the $10-a-month service because it offered access to age-appropriate series of books that would otherwise be expensive to buy and were not available. available on Amazon's Kids subscription service.
"We are committed to providing a safe shopping and reading experience for our customers and their families and we take matters like this seriously," Amazon said in a statement to Reuters. "We are reviewing all available information and are taking action based on our findings."
Referring to Amazon, Apple said: "We have shared these concerns with the developer and are working with them to ensure that their app meets our guidelines."
For its part, Google said in a statement that "Google Play does not allow apps that contain or promote sexual content and we have been in contact with the developer on this matter."
These exchanges are rare between technology companies that, although they compete with each other, also depend on each other for various services. Kindle and Amazon apps are consistently among the most downloaded on the Google and Apple app stores.
The adult material in question is primarily self-published through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing division. Authors can self-publish their books almost instantly through Amazon and can designate content as available for the Kindle Unlimited service. Under Amazon's terms for its self-publishing arm, it says you can refuse to sell content you find "offensive or inappropriate," which may include content that "contains pornography."
Amazon is the world's leading distributor of e-books, controlling two-thirds or more of the market, by some estimates. Ebooks can be viewed on Kindle devices in black and white, but also in full color on the Kindle mobile app.
Eric Goldman, a Santa Clara University law professor, that there is a body of law that broadly protects distributors of pornography and other potentially objectionable material, even if it may end up in the hands of minors, comments echoed by the other two experts. .
After Reuters alerted Apple to the availability of pornography in the Kindle app, Amazon earlier this month changed the age rating in the app store from 4 to 12 years old. The app is listed as "teen" in Alphabet's Google Play store.
Companies may, at their discretion, remove an app from their app store for rule violations or other reasons. And Apple and Alphabet have in the past policed their app stores for disallowed adult material, including removing apps that displayed explicit content or ads.
The Kindle Unlimited service does not have parental controls.
Apple's app store guidelines "prohibit apps dedicated to displaying overtly sexual or pornographic material," the company said in a statement. "App developers are responsible for moderating user-generated content on their platforms, and we work with developers to take immediate corrective action whenever we encounter an issue."
Amazon said it was also updating the Kindle app, without offering specific details, noting that its terms require parental input for users under 18.
Kindle Unlimited, for $10 a month, offers users a mix of self-published and more traditional e-books from publishers. The service has gained popularity among customers who binge-read series like the "Hunger Games" trilogy and past bestsellers like "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Queen's Gambit."
Kindle Unlimited has also spawned a cottage industry of self-published titles catering to a wide range of interests, including text-based erotica, with many thousands of titles in niche areas, such as dinosaur and alien erotica. The pornographic content can be found on the Amazon site without a subscription and can be purchased for as little as $2.99.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
