14 DAY TRIAL // One of the apps that triggered both interest and anger is now in the center of another scandal. The app is called Secret and it offers a way to post anonymous messages to a unique social network-like platform. In an unprecedented move, a Brazilian judge ordered both Apple and Google to remove this app from their respective stores and remotely delete it from the iPhone and Android phones of the Brazilian users.
The Brazilian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech with one condition: the speaker must not be anonymous. The Secret app was somewhat working against that citizen right to free speech so a Brazilian judge ruled against it. Sure, there was nothing stopping the users from downloading it onto their phones, so the court order went against Apple for the AppStore and Google for the Google Play Market.
The reason for this unprecedented measure is coming from the many complaints the Brazilian authorities have received because of anonymous bullying via Secret. Gigaom reports that judge Paulo César de Carvalho cited the Brazilian constitution, saying “the privacy, private life, honor and image of persons are inviolable, and the right to compensation for property or moral damages resulting from their violation is ensured.”
Now Apple and Google have been given ten days to comply. If they do not remove it from the AppStore, they could be fined daily with the equivalent of $8890 (€6692.95). Both companies have the right the appeal this in a court of law.
The problem with the app is that neither Apple, nor Google can delete it from all their international AppStores and any user can create an account for the US AppStore, for example. Downloading the app would be just as easy. Not to mention that Apple cannot remotely delete a single app from a certain iPhone or iPad.
The issue here may be with the way apps like Secret moderate the messages. The same app has been shamed publicly after a user posted the supposedly leaked pictures with a pair of wireless Apple EarPods. The tech media took the pictures as real, although they were posted by an anonymous user and went on saying that Apple is working on that.
A few days later, the same Secret user posted another message saying that the picture was a joke and he had never intended to take it so far. Since then, no other posts on Secret were taken by media or blogs, but regular users still tend to believe that some of the stuff posted there is real.
You can download the app and try it for yourself. Unless you live in Brazil.