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Google Play drops gay-killing 'Ass Hunter' mobile game following Twitter uproar

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

November 24, 2014 | 2 min read

Google Play has removed an app called 'Ass Hunter' from its store following complaints over its depiction and encouragement to kill gay men.

The game urged players to 'Watch out behind' them

The game, which described itself as a “Popular game hunting on [sic] gays! Play and do not be gay!” was removed by Google on Monday morning following complaints from social media users.

However, it had been available since 5 November with an ‘Everyone’ suitability rating. Furthermore, before its removal, the title mustered a four-star rating from 352 reviews, accumulating over 10,000 downloads.

The app tasked players with hunting naked gay men using a shotgun in order to prevent a suggested rape. On the Google Play platform apps are not reviewed, instead with developers offered “Content Guidelines”.

Ass Hunter was flagged and removed because it was in breach of a rule stating: “We don't allow content advocating against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity.”

This is the latest slip-up from the store derived from allowing developers to self-publish on the site.

In August there was similar controversy surrounding the release of a game called Bomb Gaza which, as the title suggests, gave users the chance to bomb civilian buildings in the troubled region.

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