Grand Theft Auto V

Anti-censorship group sees Apple’s, Steam’s control over expression in apps and games as ‘dangerous’

We have no laws preventing corporations from banning or prohibiting certain kinds of speech, and the National Coalition Against Censorship says that’s turning into a problem for free expression.

In recent weeks, a number of large companies have made headlines for blocking the sale of certain games, and that has the NCAC, an organization that fights for more speech in politics and in art, concerned. Earlier this month, Target in Australia stopped selling open-world crime game Grand Theft Auto V. This week, Valve briefly prohibited the sale of a violent shooter called Hatred on one of the world’s biggest digital stores for PC games (before chief executive officer Gabe Newell stepped in to reverse that decision). And Apple has repeatedly blocked games that make sensitive statements about politics or sex from its iOS App Store, which is the only way to get games on the iPhone or iPad.

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