Apple have all sorts of rules that app providers need to meet to be on their store.
And often these rules go beyond the law.
The App Review Guidelines provide guidance and examples across a range of development topics, including user interface design, functionality, content, and the use of specific technologies. These guidelines are designed to help you prepare your apps for the approval process.
The guiding principle of the App Store is simple—we want to provide a safe experience for users to get apps and a great opportunity for all developers to be successful. We do this by offering a highly curated App Store where every app is reviewed by experts and an editorial team helps users discover new apps every day. For everything else there is always the open Internet. If the App Store model and guidelines are not best for your app or business idea that’s okay, we provide Safari for a great web experience too.
So here they are saying that the app store is a safe place but that things that don't meet the app store criteria are also available on the internet and you can use Apple's Safari to get access to that stuff too.
"guidelines arranged into five clear sections: Safety, Performance, Business, Design, and Legal"
- We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store, as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing opinions and the quality of the app experience is great. We will reject apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it”. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.
Under safety Apple has
1.1 Objectionable Content
Apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy.
This next one is probably most applicable to Twitter's current problems
1.2 User-Generated Content
Apps with user-generated content present particular challenges, ranging from intellectual property infringement to anonymous bullying. To prevent abuse, apps with user-generated content or social networking services must include:
- A method for filtering objectionable material from being posted to the app
- A mechanism to report offensive content and timely responses to concerns
- The ability to block abusive users from the service
- Published contact information so users can easily reach you
Apps with user-generated content or services that end up being used primarily for pornographic content, Chatroulette-style experiences, objectification of real people (e.g. “hot-or-not” voting), making physical threats, or bullying do not belong on the App Store and may be removed without notice.
So it seems to me that they are trying to create a safe area, where people that want to be safe can go.
I do understand that there are many people on the USA political Right who have a perception that the Tech world is against them and that their political right voice is being censured.
But my view is that the political right voice doesn't have to be offensive insensitive upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy. I'm sure if the the voice of the right is tailored in a way that fits with these boundaries then there will be no problems publishing them. It just seems to me that in USA, with media driven talking points, the right are intentionally trying to grab attention by saying shocking stuff. And that many on the Right just love this "trolling the left" stuff and find the typical political discussions/debates boring. And hence culture war topics rather than political policy discussions.