Topline
Apple removed the ICEBlock app from its App Store on Thursday, after the Trump administration urged the iPhone maker to take action against the crowd-sourced platform, which allowed users to monitor or report sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at their locations.
In a statement issued on social media, the app maker said: “We just received a message from Apple's App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to ‘objectionable content.’”
“The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin,” the statement said, adding that the app maker intends to fight this takedown.
Fox Business reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Justice Department to demand the removal of the app, which Apple complied with.
Bondi told Fox: “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.”
Apple addressed the removal in a statement shared with multiple outlets, saying: “Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”
On its website, ICEBlock describes itself as a “completely anonymous crowd-sourced platform that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity with just two taps on their phone.” These reports are then used to alert other ICEBlock users of the presence of ICE agents within a 5-mile radius. The website notes the app is modeled after the Google-owned navigation app Waze, which provides travel time estimates and other details based on user-submitted data. The app maker claims it ensures user privacy by “storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users.” In late June, CNN reported that the app had over 20,000 users. On Thursday, the app’s creator, Joshua Aaron, told Fox Business that the user base at the time of the app’s takedown stood at 1.1 million.
90,000. That is the total number of times the app was downloaded from the iOS App Store in the past 30 days, according to Sensor Tower data.