Apple today expanded its App Store moderation rules to cover AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery. Sexually explicit content was already banned, but now Apple says app developers must proactively prevent and remove AI-generated deepfakes from their platforms. Apple warns that apps with offending content could be removed from the App Store if developers fail to act.
The updated 1.2 rule names AI content creation apps and could be targeting apps like Grok, among others. Users have complained about xAI’s Grok chatbot being used for nude and sexualized deepfakes, and earlier this year, Apple told xAI it would remove Grok from the App Store if it continued to permit nude deepfakes. xAI put safeguards in place, and Apple approved an updated version of the app.
Apple also added guideline 2.5.19 to clarify that developers who add features or functionality not present in the version of an app submitted for review risk removal from the App Store and Apple Developer Program. Apple links the rule to “nudification” apps that create sexually explicit images of real individuals without their consent, suggesting some of the apps have concealed their true purpose during review and added the nudify feature after approval.
Apps containing hidden or undocumented features are also prohibited on the App Store, including apps that misrepresent their purpose during review and only reveal harmful capabilities — such as “nudification” — after approval, a tactic commonly known as bait-and-switch.
Along with changes focused on AI-generated content, Apple updated section 5 to extend its ban on apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation to alternative app distribution.
“We do not hesitate to remove apps, and terminate the developers behind them, when they violate these guidelines,” reads Apple’s developer news post on the rule changes.
Apple’s full updated guidelines can be found on its website.
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