According to Apple, if someone searches for words like “Asian” and “teen” it must be for pornography. So discovered Charlie Stigler.
Adult Content Filter
If you turn on Screen Time in Settings, you can choose to block adult websites. You can find this by going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content. There are three options here, and the one we’re talking about is Limit Adult Websites.
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It’s a noble feature, but what if someone is looking for “Asian hairstyles” or “teen mental health services?” Even if you specifically search for those terms, they will be blocked because of the “Asian” and “teen” words. However, it’s not an exact keyword match because searching for “Asians” does go through. Chalk it up to the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Further Reading
[Apple Considers Letting Users Set Default iOS Apps]
[iOS 13.3: How to Set Screen Time Communication Limits]
Reminds me a problem I had a few years ago while waiting at a car dealership. I used their Wi-Fi network to go to my Cassiopeia Observatory web site. I was blocked. I could visit my top level domain, and other lower level pages but not this one. Why? I made an inquiry to their IT people. It turned out that the term “Cassiopeia” was blocked. Why would that be? you ask. Cassiopeia is a constellation pattern of stars. It has been called that for about 2000 years. However, many star charts that show the figures of the constellations show Queen Cassiopeia sitting on her throne with her breasts bare. Hence my astronomical observatory was blocked even though I don’t show such a figure of Cassiopeia. Another unintended consequence…
I didn’t know that such setting exist as I have Screen Time turned off.
BTW: I’m not interested neither in asians nor teens, opposite is true.
I’ve been begging Apple for years now to purchase a company like the folks that make Circle Home Plus and to integrate their functionality, particularly the more granular web filtering, into the iOS and MacOS parental controls. The “Limit Adult Websites” function is worthless and has a ton of false positives.