Vine's innocence may have been shattered, but it's still trying to preserve yours.
Following complaints that the new video-sharing service had become a hotbed for pornography, Vine has increased its user age rating from 12+ to 17+ years. A new update released on Tuesday warns users that the app "contains age-restricted material," and requires users to verify their age before it can be downloaded.
Vine has been under fire ever since porn started showing up in feeds around the world just a few day after launch, and the company has been attempting damage control ever since. First it added a warning to videos containing questionable content, and later it started blocking search terms that could turn up nude content.
It's probably not very surprising that porn ended up on Vine. Still, it's one thing for users to seek it out with specific hashtags and quite another for videos to show up in feeds unsolicited. The company only made things worse for itself when a pornographic clip was marked as an "Editor's Choice," and spread to who-knows-how-many people's innocent eyeballs.
Until that point, Vine was being showcased by Apple in its featured app section of the App Store. Needless to say, the iPhone maker's strict policy regarding nudity caused it to immediately drop that promotion. There's still the possibility that the app might be banned from the store altogether, considering that Apple prohibits offering apps with "overtly sexual content," but as of now Vine is still in the clear.
Other upgrades included in the update are bug fixes as well as improved sharing abilities for Facebook and Twitter, but the main addition is the upward movement seen on the app's age rating.
Even aside from porn, Vine's launch has not been smooth. Despite a generally positive reception, as well as proclamations that it's the next big thing - the next Instagram, if you will - Vine has run into a number of issues. Of course, there were the obligatory bugs and log-in problems (people were somehow accidentally signing into other users' accounts), but the app also had one of its most prominent features stripped after only one day. It initially allowed people to find friends through Facebook, but the social network blocked Vine from accessing its member information a few hours after launch.
The fact that Vine is still around and relevant bodes well for the app's future regardless of its bumpy introduction, though, so as long as it avoids a ban by Apple the waters should settle down soon.
