Porn on Amazon’s Kindle app prompts warnings from Apple, Alphabet

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) raised concerns with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) after learning that youngsters may view sexually explicit photos on the popular Kindle app and called on Amazon to improve content filtering.

Reuters asked spokespeople at the three companies about users’ ability to access and view online volumes of naked women’s photos, such as “75 hot fully nude photos of a young blonde” and “Real Erotica: Amateur Naked Girls – Vol. 4,” via the Kindle app. Some showed women and men having intercourse.

The companies said their concerns were policy violations but did not specify how their rules were broken or how they warned Amazon.

Two families told Reuters their pre-teen boys obtained sexual content from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photos on the Kindle iPhone app. Amazon’s Kindle store and app offer pornography.

The parents, who declined to be named, told Reuters they were first drawn to the $10-per-month program because it featured age-appropriate book series that were expensive to buy and not available on Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service.

“We take matters like this seriously,” Amazon told Reuters. “We’re reviewing all the data and acting on it.”

“We’ve shared these concerns with the developer and are working with them to ensure their app is compliant with our guidelines,” Apple said of Amazon.

Google claimed “Google Play does not allow apps that contain or promote sexual content and we’ve been in contact with the developer on this issue.”

Tech businesses, while competing, sometimes collaborate on services. Kindle and Amazon apps are among Google and Apple’s most downloaded.

Kindle Direct Publishing self-publishes the explicit content at issue. Amazon lets authors self-publish their novels quickly and make them available for Kindle Unlimited. Amazon’s self-publishing conditions allow it to reject “offensive or inappropriate” content, including pornography.

Some estimates put Amazon’s e-book market share at two-thirds or higher. The Kindle mobile app and black-and-white Kindles can display e-books in color.

Reuters interviewed three internet law experts who believed First Amendment safeguards would shield Amazon from legal action.

Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman said there’s a corpus of law that broadly protects distributors of pornography and other potentially unpleasant content even if it ends up in the hands of minors. The other two experts agreed.

PARENTAL CONTROLS AND AGE
Amazon raised the app store age classification from 4 to 12 years old earlier this month after Reuters informed Apple about the Kindle app’s obscenity. Google Play rates the app “teen”.

For infractions or other reasons, corporations can delete apps from their app stores. Apple and Alphabet have removed obscene content and marketing from their app marketplaces.

Kindle Unlimited lacks parental controls.

The Apple app store “prohibits apps dedicated to portraying overtly sexual or pornographic material,” the company added. “App developers are responsible for moderating user-generated content on their platforms, and we work with developers to immediately correct any issues.”

Amazon updated the Kindle app without providing details and highlighted that its agreements need parental involvement for under-18 users.

Dinosaur-Alien Erotica
For $10 per month, Kindle Unlimited includes self-published and traditional e-books. The “Hunger Games” trilogy, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “The Queen’s Gambit” have become popular binge reads on the program.

Many thousands of self-published novels, including dinosaur and alien erotica, are available on Kindle Unlimited. Amazon sells pornography for $2.99 without a subscription.

Three former Kindle division employees said Amazon allows authors to self-publish online without supervision and removes books with credible copyright, content, or other concerns. Amazon uses software to identify prohibited content before release.

The Seattle tech company’s Amazon Kids+ service has stronger guidelines, but it’s created and promoted for children aged 3 to 12, leaving Kindle Unlimited as the only subscription service for 13-to-17-year-olds.

Adult content was available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited via iOS and Android apps on Monday.