February 5, 2021
Apple’s iPhones and iPads automatically block the word “Asian” if users turn on in-built blockers for “adult content,” i.e. porn, according to The Independent.
In iOS 14, the company’s mobile operating system, users have the options to limit screen time settings. Under those settings include content and privacy sections, where parents can limit web content between “unrestricted access”, “limit adult websites”, and “allowed websites only.”
Selecting to “limit adult websites” will restrict Safari, as well as any other web browser installed on the iPhone such as Brave, from viewing any content that includes the word “Asian” in the URL. That includes any Google search for any phrase including the word, for instance.
As such, phrases like “Asian food” or “Asian countries” are unable to be searched for while this restriction is active, according to The Independent.
Most searched combination words with “Asian” was Japanese, buk*ake, hentai, anal, trans, threesome, and ATM (a*s-to-mouth).
“The URL was blocked by a content filter”, the error message states. The message does not come up when searching for the words “black”, “white”, “Arab”, “Korean”, or “French” – other popular racial categories on pornographic websites – nor “schoolgirl”, but is activated when users search for “teen”, “amateur”, and “mature”.
The issue was spotted by iOS developer Steven Shen, who originally filed a report with Apple in December 2019 stating that Apple’s filters were showing “Incorrect/Unexpected Behaviour” but received no reply from the company, according to The Independent.
Feature Image via BGR