New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Apple Removes Civil War Games From App Store Over Confederate Flag Usage [Updated]

Thursday June 25, 2015 6:43 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has removed seemingly all Civil War games from the App Store for displaying the Confederate Flag in "offensive and mean-spirited ways," our sister website TouchArcade has learned. Apple has sent a removal letter to affected developers to inform them that their app does not comply with Section 19.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines.
"19.1 Apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected."
MacRumors did a spot check of the App Store and can confirm that Apple has removed dozens of Civil War games depicting the Confederate Flag, which has been at the center of a racial controversy ignited by a Charleston, South Carolina church shooting last week. Most educational or generic Civil War apps remain available on the App Store.

Civil War App Store Game
A sampling of the Civil War games removed from the App Store:

  • Ultimate General: Gettysburg
  • AAA American Civil War Cannon Shooter
  • Civil War: Hidden Mysteries
  • Civil War The Battle Game
  • Civil War Defense
  • Civil War Battle Defense
  • 1861 A Civil War Rebellion
  • Civil War: 1862
  • Civil War: 1863

    Apple did not immediately respond to request for comment.

    Update 12:10 p.m. Pacific Time: In a statement provided to Buzzfeed, Apple has confirmed that it is removing apps that use the Confederate flag in "offensive or mean-spirited ways." Apple is also said to be working with game developers to get the affected apps back in the App Store after replacing the Confederate flag.
    "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,” an Apple spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "We are not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses."
    Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

    Tags: App Store, Civil War, Confederate Flag
    • [ 650 comments ]


    Top Rated Comments

    (View all)

    Avatar
    oneMadRssn
    41 months ago
    Displaying the flag in modern society is one thing, but displaying it on the context of the era it is from is another.

    Should we shut down all civil war museums too? Should Apple also remove all WW2 games that display a swastika? Should Apple pull all history textbooks from the ibook store that contain either a confederate flag or a swastika? What about all the civil war / WW2 documentaries on iTunes?
    Rating: 169 Votes
    Avatar
    Vol7ron
    41 months ago
    This is getting way out of control...it's a game....
    Rating: 134 Votes
    Avatar
    Vanilla Face
    41 months ago
    So under that same rule basically any Bible/Torah/Quran app should be removed as well.
    Rating: 81 Votes
    Avatar
    HowlinAl
    41 months ago
    This seems a little ridiculous.
    Rating: 72 Votes
    Avatar
    thatisme
    41 months ago
    If this is indeed true, then it is the most moronic response to a (non)issue. If removing the Dukes of Hazard General Lee toys from the shelves because of the roof decal wasn't enough, this just takes the cake.

    I'm sick and tired of this PC crap.
    Rating: 66 Votes
    Avatar
    Z400Racer37
    41 months ago
    Are you serious??? Are we just gonna try to pretend that this never happened now??

    It's one thing for a government not to actively fly that flag, it has no business doing that, but now we're just gonna sensor it like slavery never happened? Give me a break...
    Rating: 65 Votes
    Avatar
    bigrell486
    41 months ago
    I think within the context of the Civil War, it should be okay to show the flag. It's not like the game is called "Billy Bob's Redneck Jamboree 2015"
    Rating: 55 Votes
    Avatar
    iKrivetko
    41 months ago
    Oh bollocks. What's next, removing WoT Blitz for being able to play as a nazi?
    Rating: 55 Votes
    Avatar
    SpiderDude
    41 months ago
    Holy mother of all facepalms.
    Rating: 43 Votes
    Avatar
    ScottNWDW
    41 months ago
    I think people are blowing this confederate flag thing out of proportion. So what do we do now, erase the Civil War from the history books? No, it's not right that a government building is still flying the flag on 2015, but at the same time this outrage over it is just plain ridiculous. People need to get OFF the PC bandwagon and start working on the real problems of today not something that happened close to 150 years ago.
    Rating: 39 Votes

    [ Read All Comments ]