The huge controversy over finding mature content on Twitter’s video-sharing app Vine was heightened when a clip of hardcore porn made it to Vine’s Editor’s Picks.

Vine quickly apologized for the incident, stating it was caused by human error, and pulled the controversial clip from Vine.

“A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor’s Picks, and upon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately. We apologize to our users for the error,” Vine spokesperson said in a statement.

One might think that the porn problem of Vine is over, but the fact remains that people can still post nude videos or videos containing mature content.  It’s not prohibited, as long as the video doesn’t violate Vine’s Terms of Service.

Vine remains in App Store

Far from what most expected, Vine is still available in Apple’s App Store though it’s not that easy to find anymore.  Before, it was featured in the Social Networking category, but now, you actually have to go to the Search tab and type Vine into the search bar to see the app.

At least Vine hasn’t been pulled yet from the App Store, which is what happened to 500px last week.  The photo sharing app was pulled from the App Store because Apple deemed the app made it easier to find nude photos.

Other Apps Make it Easy to Find #NSFW

The funny thing is, Vine isn’t the only app with a porn problem.  And Apple’s App Store features plenty of apps not suited for minors but can be easily downloaded, because the apps are free and it takes just another tap on the screen to pretend that you are of age.

By searching for “porn, sex, nsfw, ass,” and other inappropriate words, you’ll come across several iPhone apps that offer mature content, be it a simple sex facts app, erotic stories, Kamasutra positions, sex jokes, sex games and pretty much anything related to sex.

As for other social networking apps, mature content is just as easy to find.  If you go on Flickr it’s just a matter of clicks before you come across mature content.  And while it’s even easier to find nude and debatably pornographic images on Tumblr, you must first be signed in.

This isn’t the case with every social network, however, as they each have their own Terms of Service and proprietary algorithms that limit your user experience, for better or worse.  A hashtag search on Instagram for keywords “porn, nude, ass” and even “butt” will return absolutely zero results.

But why go through all the trouble of downloading apps to find porn when your mobile device has a browser?  Then you can easily download Google Chrome, which has an incognito mode which hides all your searches.

Whether by way of an app or a browser, nearly any internet-connected media channel can lead to porn. Inappropriate content is available because there is huge demand for it, making people the problem, not necessarily one iPhone app’s ToS versus another’s.  It’s an endless cycle.  No matter how strict an app’s Terms, people will always find other ways to satiate their needs.

Image by Gisela Giardino