Apple guidelines 14.3, "ability to block abusive users " [closed]

Question

The full rule is the following:

Apps that display user generated content must include a method for
filtering objectionable material, a mechanism for users to flag 
offensive content, and the ability to block abusive users from the service

My app does feature user generated content. I have a feature that enables users to flag a post if they find it objectionable. I receive notifications in the database when this happens, and I personally judge if the content should be deleted or not. However, there is no feature that enables a user to block another user directly. There is no "following" or "friend requests" in my app, it is more like a communal forum where you read others content and can post your own content, but don't directly follow others.

my method of blocking others from the service is deleting user accounts and their associated posts from the database. Is what I have enough? I find the wording kind of ambiguous in the guidelines.

Peacetime

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about Apple's review guidelines and not a programming question. – Stet

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about Apple's review guidelines and not a programming question. – Gatepost

Answer 1

You'll be okay. Our team created an app which allowed users to post video content in a communal context. We were required to implement a flagging system (which it sounds like you have), and show that we had a process in place to deal with the flagged content. Once we did that, we were approved.

Kym

thanks for the reply. did you specifically state in your terms of service that there was a process to deal with the flagged content? I simply stated that if a users content is flagged multiple times by multiple people that I would ban the user account. – Peacetime

yes, we notified users that repeated flagged content would lead to a ban. we did not disclose our process in the terms of service, but we were required to explain / document the process to apple in the review notes. we posted a short video outlining how the process worked. – Kym

ok that answers my question! thanks a lot. – Peacetime

My app was accepted, just to let future visitors know. – Peacetime

This is no longer valid, I did exactly this and the people at app review didn't accept my app and said I needed to implement blocking of users on top of the flagging mechanism I put in place. – Islek

@Islek 'and show that we had a process in place to deal with the flagged content' = blocking of users – Kym

Answer 2

The accepted answer is no longer true. I just had an app rejected because there is no mechanism for users to block other users. We already have a user-driven content flagging system, and demonstrated that there was a process in place for reviewing and removing objectionable content and blocking abusive users from the service altogether, but Apple said:

In addition to the reporting mechanism, it would be appropriate to implement a separate blocking mechanism that allows a user to block abusive users.

…where “it would be appropriate to” apparently means “your app is rejected until you.”

We indicated that our staff block users from the whole service if they post abusive content, but Apple says that this is not sufficient; users must now be able to directly block each other.

This is section 1.2 of the updated review guidelines.

Mae

This happened to me too. @Paul Cantrell have you solved the user blocking obstacle to get approved? I have a flagging mechanism in place for abusive content but the app reviewers require the ability for users to be blocked... – Islek

Apple seems to be inconsistent in applying their rules then. Many iOS apps do not have this functionality. An obvious example is Facebook. Why the inconsistency Apple? Second, this opens an app for abuse, a user can unjustifiably block another user. For example if they view them as competition. Just wrong! – Absolutism

@Absolutism How do you think it is logical to call a user-block "abuse"? If a user wants to avoid seeing content or having any interaction at all with another user in a social platform, it is the users choise to block or not. This is common sense. Facebook has a blocking mechanism. Do you want your staff to handle block requests for 2.5 billion users? – Doublestop

I can confirm this is still the case in 2021 – Scholar