Guys, I think we need “for real talk” right now, because the autism level has reached a new low. Apple now has a ban system that does not allow anything Pepe related on the app store. The great purge of Pepe means no icons, apps or games on the App Store will be valid and will be taken down if it features our dank meme lord and savior Pepe.

The information regarding the great Pepe comes in by publication site Motherboard. The website reveals that any icon, app or game related to Pepe has since been removed from the App Store; eliminating the green meme from being used as an emoji or an Apple App store  presence on any “i-device”. The publication website did some research on said matter and had this to say:

“It is well within Apple’s right to reject whatever apps it wants to, but it does appear that the company more or less has adopted a blanket “no Pepe” policy. There are no apps in the App Store with Pepe in the title, and it does not appear in many meme apps and iMessage sticker packs (there are no Pepes in “MemeStickers,” for instance).

 

Meanwhile, the Google Play Store has Pepe Snap, Rare Pepe Clicker, Flappy Pepe, and Pepe Button, among several other Pepe apps. Pepes are indeed rare on iOS and can only be found hidden deep within other apps—there are two Pepes on the iMessage “That Feel” sticker pack, and a camera app called Instameme has Pepes as part of an add-on content bundle.”

The most recent Pepe debacle was sparked after a certain game by app/game developer Spirit Realm Games posted an entry on the App Store known as Pepe Scream, which was taken down prompting the publication site to do even more research on the matter.

“Pepe Scream was rejected for violating section 1.1 of Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines, which stipulates that apps cannot “include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste.” Spirit Realm Games appealed the decision, and Apple sent a follow up message identifying Pepe as the problem.”

According to the above, Pepe’s presence is now deemed as “offensive,” “insensitive,” “upsetting,” “intended to disgust,” and is “exceptionally poor taste.” However, it was later confirmed that the game itself, Pepe Scream, was not the only title to be removed in the great silent purge, but other Pepe related entries to the App Store via an update by the publication site.

“Update: This post has been updated to note that games have been rejected for using Pepe in the past.”

So there you have it, a company, in this case Apple, is appalled by a few pixels of a certain green frog. It’s funny that instead of leaving it up to a user to use a personal filter to remove apps by tags and keywords for a specific i-device, they would instead ban hammer a fictional image/character due to its non-humanly existence that cannot harm anyone in real life in any form, fashion or way, because it is “offensive”.

I know some may say “get over it! It’s just one meme character you can’t use!!! Anyway, those Pepe games are crap!” Yes, but some people who own an i-device and like Pepe related stuff are now banned from submitting and/or downloading games or apps associated with said character without having an option to access that specific content.

What I’m trying to say here is that by banning things, in this case like Pepe, will only drive people away, and that this could have been avoided by adding additional features for individual users to customize what appears on the App Store will only stifle such uproars like the one going on regarding Pepe’s disappearance from the App Store.

But, then again, we are talking about the same company who banned the Binding of Isaac for child abuse and any Civil War app that featured the Confederate flag. And before you say “Oh, no! It was only apps that supported the Confederate flag.” Nope, that was after developers and users of the App Store complained that all apps featuring said flag were taken down did Apple retract and go through and take down “offensive” Confederate app related products and games.

So there you have it, Pepe will no longer be tolerated on the App Store anymore. With that said, you can read the full story over on motherboard.com.