January 17, 2013

Google drops racist apps

Google Play drops racial stereotype appsAs Tech Chronicles noted back in December, the Google Play store was offering a series of apps that let users alter photos to see what they might look like if they were old, fat, a punk … and Asian, Native American and other ethnic types.

The “Make me Asian” app, for instance, changed the shape of the person’s eyes, adds a rice paddy hat and “fu manchu” mustache. The “Make me Indian” app added a bird feather and “war paint” on the person’s cheeks, and modified the person’s eyes so that they appear angry.

The Android apps, developed by Kimberly Deiss, drew outrage from some quarters as racist and insulting, and prompted a petition on Change.org calling on Google to drop the apps.

Thursday, Change.org said that the apps have disappeared from the Google Play lineup. The petition netted nearly 10,000 signatures, which apparently was enough to convince the folks at Google they’d made a mistake, despite the apps being downloaded tens of thousands of times.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Racist "Make Me Indian" App.

1 comment:

dmarks said...

I for one am leery of app store censorship, even if it is good like this.

Apple has infamously censored many GOOD apps from its app store. Including one that kept people apprised of drone strikes (made by a person who opposed them).

Apps should be like books: people should have the right to be able to write and publish racist crap like this... and we can just choose not to buy it. The people should decide, not top-down control