Apple to prune Vine after porn deluge?

Apple to prune Vine after porn deluge?
Six seconds is all it takes

It turns out that you can't launch a video app in this day and age without the world and it's sister using it to share porn - and Vine has it in spades.

Having launched four days ago there are already hundreds of six-second snippets imaginatively hashtagged #porn on Twitter's video-sharing app and the situation is whipping the online community up into quite a frenzy.

The videos range (we're told) from home-made pornos to videos of professional films to (we imagine) subversive Fight Club-style flashes in otherwise inoffensive shorts.

It makes using clever plug-ins like VinePeek into a fleshy Russian Roulette especially if you happen to be eating a banana while browsing.

Poisoned vine

While users have the option to report videos as offensive, Vine isn't actively moderating every upload to ensure they abide by its rules.

As it outlines in its terms of service, "All Content, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person who originated such Content.

"We may, but are not required to monitor or control the Content posted via the Services and we cannot take responsibility for such Content."

When you sign up to Vine you accept that "you may be exposed to content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate" - although there's no explicit age rating or parental control option so perhaps don't let your kids loose on there.

Vine covering its back is all well and good, but Apple took down a photography app last week on the basis that its users were posting photos of nudes - surely, in the interest of fairness, Vine can't be far behind.

We've asked Apple what's likely to happen here, although we'll be surprised if it tells us before Vine is whipped off the App Store pending review.

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.