Porn, Nazi GIFs surface on iOS 10 iMessage

Apple has banned both 'butt' and 'huge' from iMessage's GIF search


Tech Desk September 16, 2016
Apple's iMessage update is generating controversial images PHOTO: AFP

Three days after the launch of iOS 10, Apple has run into trouble with iMessage's new GIF search feature.

A highly sexual My Little Pony GIF initially appeared when the term "butt" was searched for.  But, the problem did not end there.

A woman speaking to The Verge says her eight-year-old daughter, while trying to iMessage her dad, was presented with "a very explicit image" of "a woman giving oral sex to a well-endowed male."

"I see the image come up like, holy shit, whoa whoa whoa, that's a hardcore porn image," Tassie Bethany, whose daughter discovered the image, told the technology news and media network.  The daughter had only searched for the word “huge”. Bethany says her daughter is fine as "she had no idea" but these searches can accidentally expose other kids to porn."

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"I grabbed the phone from her immediately. She typed in the word huge, which isn't sexual in any nature. It's just a word, not like butt or anything else."

iMessage has introduced a host of new changes in iOS 10 with GIF features being one of them. Although Apple has made an attempt to block searches for most sexual terms, certain words such as "huge" have generated sexual images. Apple has banned both, "butt" and "huge" from iMessage's GIF search but this hasn’t curbed the trend.

In another bizarre incident, Apple generated Nazi memes and other Hitler GIFs. When searched in iMessage, the word "power" shows an image of the Power Rangers presenting a salute, with a swastika in the background and the words Heil Hitler flashing over them. The controversial GIF also came from searching a term completely unrelated to the end result.

 Terms such as Power generate Nazi results PHOTO: SCREENGRAB

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iMessage's GIF search will also show various GIFs of Hitler when the words "Nazi" and "Hitler" are searched. Searching for "Jew" also results in offensive GIFs. These include a South Park GIF of Cartman quipping "You stupid Jew".

Apple is yet to comment on the controversy. But, the tech giant has been removing inappropriate results.

This article originally appeared on The Verge.

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