That was quick.
Twitter’s just launched Vine — a stand-alone app for sharing super short videos — is already turning into an X-rated nightmare for the company.
Twitter apologized yesterday after a graphic video found its way to the top of Vine’s “Editor Picks,” fanning a growing controversy over whether the new app has a porn problem.
“A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor’s Picks, and upon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately. We apologize to our users for the error,” Twitter said in a statement.
It didn’t take long for people to figure out that Vine, which allows users to share 6-second video clips based on hashtags, could be used for more than funny cat videos.
Complaints about adult content surfaced within a few days of Vine’s release last week as hashtags such as “#porn” and “#sex” made it easy to search for racy videos.
The offending material was typically available only if a user looked for it — that is, until someone slapped an “Editor’s Pick” on one porn video and gave it a prominent position within the service.
While the stamp of approval was removed, users still reported it showing in the “popular videos” queue — no doubt a position earned from all the exposure.
Twitter takes a soft stance on hardcore matters and allows the use of its messaging platform for some risque communications. The terms of service of the Vine app warn users of the potential to find offensive content.
Users can report content they deem inappropriate, and hardcore content does come with a disclaimer users must accept before viewing.
Yesterday, Apple quietly stopped promoting the Vine app as one of its top picks. The company is notorious for guarding against sexual and offensive content. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.