Like Patrol—an app that collects Instagram info to allow consumers keep tabs on any interactions of Instagram account—is under heat. Instagram sent the developers of the app a notice (cease and desist) previous week for breaching its terms of service, and this week, Apple fully eliminated the app from the App Store. A swift search of the app store verifies that it is no longer accessible now. As per media, Apple removed Like Patrol after making a decision that it breached the guidelines of the App Store. Although it is not clear which guidelines were breached, it is a secure bet that they revolve around privacy violations and data collection.
Like Patrol takes the concept of “Following” tab by Instagram—that was removed previous fall—and makes it even more enveloping. The app reports as to who a given consumers is communicating with, down to attractiveness and gender stats. The app’s founder, Sergio Luis Quintero, claimed that the firm aims to deal with Instagram’s order, but that might be moot due to Apple’s removal; the App Store owner is the true doorkeeper in this case.
Normally, when an app is removed from the App Store, it can be accessed still by consumers who downloaded it previously. It is unclear whether or not current Like Patrol consumers can still employ the service.
On a related note, Instagram is carrying on cracking down on graphic pictures posted on its service, after an outcry over the Molly Russell’s (British teenager) death few years back. Russell committed suicide after seeing graphic suicide-associated pictures on both Pinterest and Instagram.
The service is expanding its ban on graphic content to cover memes and cartoons as well as images. “We will no longer let fictional representations of suicide or self-harm on Instagram,” it claimed.
