On the same November day that saw more than 1 million people in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., , a popular social media app rooted in the cannabis space was removed from Apple’s massive commercial marketplace known as the .
“The App Store is one of the largest content distribution channels in the world, and we’d already been on there for 14 months,” said Isaac Dietrich, CEO of Denver-based social media outfit . “After we were taken down from the App Store, I called Apple back on election day and the guy said they had amended the App Store policy on cannabis social apps.
“I told him, ‘You do know that Oregon, Alaska and D.C. are about to push legalization through.’ He said the executives in the App Store said this content isn’t the kind of content they want to see in the App Store.”
Apple told The Denver Post its policies on marijuana apps have not changed. Its says, “Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users.”
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The typically private Apple would not comment on individual companies’ complaints.
But Dietrich says something must have changed within the corporation recently. And his complaint against Apple isn’t the only one from the marijuana tech space.
While cannabis legalization , there are countless roadblocks still awaiting the legal pot industry — especially given the plantap precarious relationship with federal law, which still lists marijuana as a .
The App Store’s strict restrictions could make the marketplace cannabis’ most heated tech battleground. After secured more than 10,000 signatures in two weeks, several other pot-related businesses are starting to gripe publicly about their negative experiences with Apple.
Casey Eastman, a developer with Denver-based , said: “I’d be surprised if I’m not pushing 20 rejections (from Apple) in the last couple of years. And thatap my professional record. But I guess failure is part of experience.”
Zach Marburger, the CEO of Colorado-based development firm : “The issues with Apple have been all people are talking about in the last two weeks in the marijuana underground and the tech underground. If enough people cry foul, Apple will listen.”
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