Prosecutors in Brazil want Google and Apple to kick the anonymous gossip act Secret from their app stores. They feel it is contributing to bullying in Brazil and want the two smartphone giants to ban the app as well as deleting it from phones from users who have already downloaded it. Apple would use its iPhone “kill switch,” as we will call it, which it has never used before. Most users don’t even know that it exists. Don’t be shocked: Google has one, and has used it once, and Microsoft has one too.
Some reports claim that a Judge in Brazil has already ordered Apple and Google to remotely wipe users’ devices, another news source has said the ruling hasn’t actually passed yet. If it passes, the companies will be fined around $8,888 for every day the apps remain available to download in Brazil. It’s unknown how much Apple could be fined for leaving it on users’ devices.
The prosecution’s case came to be developed when a man found naked photos of himself on the app, with claims that he was HIV positive.
As an aside, Google’s kill switch is called the “Remote Application Removal Feature.”
