An app that uses the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s covert war data , to alert people to the far reaches of the US government’s secret wars, has been blocked from Apple’s app store.

Drones+, the creation of NYU student Josh Begley, was meant to be a simple way of notifying users whenever US drones struck somewhere in the world. But Apple decided this was not acceptable for its customers. After rejecting the app on the grounds of its design and functionality, the US tech giant finally took exception to its content.

The interpretOr would like to add that the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has great credibility, and works in collaboration with other news groups to get its investigations published and distributed.  To date, BIJ have worked with BBC File On Four, BBC Panorama, BBC Newsnight, Channel4 Dispatches, Channel4 News, The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Le Monde and numerous others.

In correspondence seen by the Bureau, the US tech giant told Begley that apps that ‘present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.’ The company added:

‘We found that your app contains content that many audiences would find objectionable.’ 

Apple’s decision did not come as a surprise to Begley. ‘I think their position is often just they don’t want to let anything through that could be seen by anyone at any particular table that could be seen as controversial,’ he said.