Remember when we reviewed Vine and briefly touched on the porn scandal that was erupting just days after the app debuted? Well, after various steps were taken to censor or eliminate the pornographic material, Vine has taken a big step with an update today. The update enforces, among other things, an age confirmation that users must be at least 17.
iOS is particularly known for being rigid with which apps its accepts to its App Store, and when we heard about users being able to search for explicit content via hash tags such as #porn, we were curious to see if Apple would pull the app completely. Turns out Vine has taken a preventive measure by enforcing an age-restricted warning that urges those only older than 17 to download the app. Vine previously had a 12+ age rating.
When we updated Vine on our iPhone, we were prompted with a message saying "Vine - Make a scene contains age-restricted material. Tap OK to confirm that you are 17 or over. Your content will then begin downloading immediately." We tapped OK, but we don't see why teenagers and children under 17 won't tap the OK button too. In fact, we'd make the argument that the age-restricted warning makes the app more enticing, especially to teenagers, so they'll want to download the app more now than they did in the first place.
