TORONTO – Twitter-owned video sharing app Vine had its user age rating increased Wednesday to 17+ due in part to the increasing amount of pornographic videos found in the app.
The age rating was changed as part of Vine’s latest app update, V 1.0.5. Users now have to confirm that they are over 17 years of age before downloading the application.
Under the rating explanation in the App Store, reasons for the 17+ age rating include “frequent and intense sexual content or nudity” as well as “mild mature or suggestive themes” and “mild profanity or crude humor.”
Vine previously had an age rating of 12+.
The app, which allows users to share six-second video clips, quickly rose to app stardom and landed on the top of Apple’s “Top Free” apps in the social category. But the application came under fire immediately after its release as users discovered that searching for the hashtags #porn or #sex would result in pornographic content.
The app came under fire again after a pornographic video made it to the top of the “Editor’s Picks” section, which appears in each user’s home feed.
Twitter responded to the incident stating that “human error” resulted in the pornography making its way to the section and apologized to users for the error.
Vine’s V 1.0.5 app update also includes the ability to block users and updates to the sharing to Facebook and Twitter capabilities.
Update: According to a report by All Things D, Apple reportedly pushed Vine to update the age rating of the app after the escalating pornography problem.
The report says Apple reminded Twitter of clause 3.8 from the App Store guidelines, which explains that developers are responsible for giving apps appropriate age ratings, citing sources “familiar with the matter.”
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