Snippet: Apple Pauses Gambling Ads in App Store Pages After Developers Complain ☇

Joe Rossignol for MacRumors:

Apple today rolled out new ad placements in the App Store on the iPhone, allowing developers to advertise their apps in more places, including the main Today tab and in the “You Might Also Like” section at the bottom of individual app listings.

Just hours later, several prominent developers have complained about distasteful ads for gambling apps appearing in their own App Store listings outside of their control, including Marco Arment, Simon Støvring, and others.

While I understand Apple has to find new ways to make money to keep analysts and shareholders happy, this was one of the slimiest things in recent memory. More ads in general just cheapens the App Store, adds clutter, and sometimes the algorithm just plain sucks (Gambling for addictions? Hinge for marriage help?). I get there’s money to be made, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Shortly after the outcry, Apple did backtrack things a bit:

In a statement shared with MacRumors today, Apple said it has paused gambling ads in App Store app pages, with no further details provided:

We have paused ads related to gambling and a few other categories on App Store product pages.

While it’s a start, none of this should’ve made it past the “here’s an idea” stage. Do better, Apple.