Apple has brought down an app that uses crowdsourcing to mark the observations ofAmerican immigration agentsAfter coming under pressure from the Trump government.
Iceblock, a free-only-IPhone app with which users can report and control anonymous activities by immigration and customs enforcement officers (ICE), was no longer available in Apple’s App Store from Friday. The developer had confirmed the removal on Thursday evening.
“We have just received a message from Apple’s app review#IceblockHas been removed from the App Store because of ‘offensive content’, Iceblock said in a post on social media. “The only thing we can imagine is that this is due to pressure from the Trump manager. We have responded and we will fight this!”
The developer said last month that it had more than 1 million users. Although it has been removed from the app market, those who have already downloaded the app must still be able to use it.
The Associated Press reached Iceblock on Friday for further comments.
Apple said it removed apps such as Iceblock because of the potential for risks raised by law enforcement.
“We made the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” the company said in a statement. “Based on information we have received from law enforcement about the safety risks related to Iceblock, we have removed these and similar apps from the App Store.”
The American attorney general Pamela Bondi confirmed that her office had contacted Apple on Thursday, “demanded that they remove ice blocks from their App Store.” In a statement sent to the Associated Press, she claimed that Iceblock “was designed to jeopardize ice officers only for doing their work.”
Officials said last month that a shooter who opened the fire on oneIce -facilityIn Dallas had searched for apps that followed the presence of ICE agents.
Bondi has said earlier that Crowdsourced apps with which people can communicate about the location of law enforcement officers are not allowed, in particular referring to Iceblock developer Joshua Aaron in an interview in July on Fox News.
“We look at him and he should look forward to it, because that is not a protected speech,” Bondi said at the time.
But proponents say that following ice activity is a form of freedom of expression that is protected by the first amendment. They claim that such platforms are mainly used in persons who want to protect themselves against surprise attacks or potential intimidation of immigration officials.
Downloads from apps such as Iceblock have risen as the Trump administration sets up the enforcement of immigration.
Iceblock and other crowdsourcing apps such as being targeted, but crowdsourced technology has become common in the App Store and is still available through other apps.
Navigation apps such as Waze or Google Maps for Android phones have been in use for years. Part of their draw is that users are warned by other drivers about police speeds. Users of those apps have suggested that they can be used to post updates on ‘icy conditions’.
Waze and Google Maps are not the target of American officials.
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