The mobile application 17 was available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play again yesterday after promises were made that the application’s administrator would remove any pornographic, violent or illegal content, and freeze the accounts of those spreading such content.
The application was taken down from the software repositories in August and September respectively, after users were found to have abused it.
The application was funded by Taiwanese rapper Jeff Huang (黃立成) and friends, who reportedly invested more than US$1.2 million in the project.
Because of alleged improper use of the application by users, Huang was summoned earlier this month by the Criminal Investigation Bureau to assist police in an investigation into the matter.
The application’s licensing agreement bans users from posting violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful or sexually suggestive photographs or other content.
An updated agreement to go with the relaunched application said administrators would monitor live broadcasts transmitted via the application.
“We’re back,” Huang said on Facebook after the application was reinstated.
Though the application was taken down by Apple Store and Google Play, Huang said the government was targeting him.
“We are a company founded in Taiwan that supports Taiwan’s environment and economy, but [the government] does not support me and keeps oppressing me,” Huang said. “I am really disappointed in the Taiwanese government.”
He said he lost millions of dollars when the application was taken down for one month, adding that the government is yet to crack down on other sources of pornographic content.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that Huang blocked access to a female user who pushed the limits of the new agreement shortly after the application was reinstated.
“She is gone already. My team is the fastest,” Huang said, adding that Apple Store had verified his team.
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