Apple rejects Angry Birds parody Angry Syrians
You wouldn't like me when I'm angry
Apple has rejected a game called Angry Syrians, on the basis that it contains defamatory or offensive content.
The game is a crude little parody of Angry Birds that lets you throw bombs at Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Creator Frederic Jacobs says that the game "was originally designed to educate people about what's going on in Syria," and argues that his satirical game raises "public awareness".
Apple disagreed. According to Jacobs, Apple rejected the game (after two months of deliberation), and said "we found your app contains defamatory or offensive content targeted at a specific group, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines."
Jacobs also says that he "had Rovio's approval to publish it and got all approvals to use the graphic content I'm using". Pocket Gamer has asked Rovio to confirm this. We're waiting for a reply.
Undeterred, Jacobs says he will release the game's code to the public so anyone can whip up a parody game in no time. "I'm providing a tool that makes it easy to make an Angry Birds game. Take it from there and make something awesome," he says.
"I may distribute a version in a private Cydia repository for jailbroken phones though later."
Previously, Apple rejected an app from Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore because it contained caricature images of Barack Obama. Steve Jobs said the rejection was a mistake, and the app (NewsToons) has since become available.
Apple also said "no thanks" to Smuggle Truck, which depicted Mexican characters being illegally smuggled over the Mexican border. Developer Owlchemy Labs quickly replaced all the graphics with pictures of cuddly toys, and successfully re-submitted the app as Snuggle Truck.
The controversial Smuggle Truck, however, is available on Android.
"We all know that Apple has never been keen on 'Freedom of Speech' and that they are censoring a lot of content," writes Jacobs. "Apple just doesn't want to take a position in the conflict by approving this app."
