Early this week I got my iPhone app Angry Syrians rejected after more than 2 months of review. I'm not surprised though. Even though I had Rovio's approval to publish it and got all approvals to use the graphic content I'm using, I knew Apple was going to find an reason to reject it.

And guess what it is the reason they came up with ?  >> We found your app contains defamatory or offensive content targeted at a specific group, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. Defamatory and offensive content ? Wait. That reminds me of something. 

Except, back in the days, a respectable Syrian CEO understood how ridiculous it was to ban satire that has a purpose. And they gave him a preferential treatment.  What surprise me most is that Assad has already killed tens of thousands of people. So Apple would have ban a political cartoon of Hitler back in the days ? The worst part is that I'm almost sure that they don't even have a clue about what's happening in Syria.

We all know that Apple has never been keen on *Freedom of Speech* and that they are censoring a lot of content. The fun part is that Apple as a content dictator does support Syria by not allowing this App aimed at raising global awareness. This situation shows at how bad SOPA could actually have been about information. The Apple platforms are all walled gardens with Apple being the gatekeeper. 

In this case, Apple prevents us of raising public awareness about an issue that's killing almost 70 people on a daily basis. People used to say that it was to prevent the App Store to be a place full of shitty apps. But there is also a huge politcal power behind it. I don't think that Angry Syrians is worse than one of those dozens of fart apps. Quality here is not the issue. Apple just doesn't want to take a position in the conflict by approving this app (Along with a friend I already built a WikiLeaks app in the past that had been rejected too).What happened to Apple ? Wasn't it better to be a Pirate than to join the Navy ?

Hint : Money happened.Apparently these acts of censorship occur on a daily basis but Apple keeps trying to kill them silently. 

But I don't blame only Apple for this. Other companies are doing way worse. Supporting the regime in an active way like Fortinet or BlueCoat. 

It's even worse when it comes to Westerns Governements or International Organisations. 

All are stating their good will for a Free Syria and agree that the bloodbath should end but no one is daring to take action.  In the age of Social Media, sending "observers" doesn't make any sense since thousands of observers are reporting live with their mobile phone. Technology empored people to tell the truth and people are putting their life at risk to shout out the truth, but where is the world to receive it ?