Fact Check

Breitbart News App Removed From the Apple Store?

Rumors circulated that Apple was purging its app store of "fake news" web sites — starting with Breitbart's news app.

Published Nov. 30, 2016

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Claim:
Apple's purge of "fake news" apps from the App store started with the removal of Breitbart News in November 2016.
What's True

The Breitbart app briefly vanished from the app store in November 2016.

What's False

Apple is purging its app store of "fake news" apps.

On 30 November 2016, conspiracy theorist web sites reported that Apple had purged the Breitbart app from iTunes:

Apple has removed the Breitbart News app from their iTunes marketplace as the fascistic censorship of free speech and truth journalism kicks into high gear.

While the GooglePlay store still carries Breitbart’s Android-compatible app, there is now no official Breitbart app avail for Apple products, despite it having been available for the last three years.

While it is true that the Breitbart app briefly disappeared from the Apple store, it did not function as proof that Apple was engaging in censorship of free speech, to say nothing of "truth journalism."

The point was moot, however, because the Breitbart app was once again available on iTunes as of 30 November 2016:

breitbart

While the app did briefly vanish, there is no evidence that it was removed as part of a larger censorship scheme.  We have reached out to Apple for clarification on the issue.

Sources

Khalid, Amrita.   "=Apple's App Store and Twitter join battle against Breitbart News."     Daily Dot.   23 November 2016.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.