{"id":32121,"date":"2021-04-14T15:32:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T19:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=32121"},"modified":"2021-04-22T19:33:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T23:33:15","slug":"blocking-discord-channels-marked-nsfw-on-ios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/14\/blocking-discord-channels-marked-nsfw-on-ios\/","title":{"rendered":"Blocking Discord Channels Marked NSFW on iOS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Kastrenakes<\/a> (tweet<\/a>, Hacker<\/a> News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Discord is amping up its restrictions on adult content<\/a>, with new age gates on NSFW servers and a ban on accessing these servers from iOS devices.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

The NSFW marker does two things. First, it prevents anyone under the age of 18 from joining. But the bigger limitation is that it prevents NSFW servers from being accessed on iOS devices — a significant restriction that’s almost certainly meant to cater to Apple’s strict and often prudish rules around nudity in services distributed through the App Store.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

No such rules apply to groups conversing via iMessage or FaceTime.<\/p>\n\n

Kyle Orland<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Apple’s iOS Developer Guidelines<\/a> say that apps with user-generated content “that end up being used primarily for pornographic content… do not belong on the App Store.” The guidelines allow for “incidental” NSFW content generated by users on web-based services if “the content is hidden by default and only displayed when the user turns it on via your website,” a caveat that apparently isn’t sufficient for Discord’s comfort.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My recollection is that enabling it via a switch in the app, or based on the iOS parental controls settings, is forbidden.<\/p>\n

Discord is reportedly<\/a> in the late stages of acquisition talks—which could value the service at $10 billion—with Microsoft and other parties. The service has over 140 million monthly users and 300 million registered accounts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

reificator<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Every small community I’m on on Discord (meaning the majority of the servers I regularly interact with) sets every channel to `NSFW`, and some mark the server itself. They do this because everyone involved is known to be 18+ (Usually higher than that) and they want to be able to have the same discussions they’d have in person.<\/p>

These communities are not about porn, are not about anything “distasteful”, but the flag is set there so that if a topic comes up we can discuss it without risking a ban.<\/p>

In other words these communities are meant to be a Third Place, or an extension of a physical Third Place, particularly recently thanks to COVID.<\/p>

The content here is literally no different than the content that could show up in a long-running group chat in the Messages app on iOS.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Matthew Bischoff<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

When we dealt with this at Tumblr, it became my full time jobs for weeks to find incredibly complex ways to appease Apple’s censors. This happened every time they found a sexy blog they didn’t like. It’s absurd.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Ian Vanagas<\/a> (via Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

The competition between internet communication platforms is fierce. Discord wasn’t early to voice channels or group chats. They weren’t unique for targeting their offering to gamers. Other platforms have the same features as them. Yet they are a multi-billion dollar business. How? To borrow an idea from Sarah Tavel<\/a>, they built a 10x better product AND capture more value from it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n