App designed to weed out fake reviews and bad sellers on Amazon removed from Apple's app store following pressure campaign from Amazon: Fakespot is an application designed to weed out fake product reviews from retail sites like Amazon and Walmart. Amazon reportedly sent Apple a takedown request over concerns that the Fakespot app could theoretically be exploited to steal users' data. “We just dedicated months of resources and time and money into this app,” said Fakespot's founder Saoud Khalifah according to The Verge. “Apple hasn’t even given us the ability to solve this.” Apple contested Khalifah's remarks hours after The Verge published its reporting on the issue. “This was a dispute over intellectual property rights initiated by Amazon on June 8 and within hours we ensured both parties were in contact with one another, explaining the issue and steps for the developer to take to keep their app on the store and giving them ample time to resolve the issue. On June 29, we again reached out to Fakespot weeks before removing their app from the App Store.” Khalifah clarified that Apple had reached out on June 29, according to The Verge, but "it was largely just conversation between Amazon and Fakespot where each argued their side before Apple yanked the app." Amazon indicated to The Verge that Fakespot purportedly violated policy guideline 5.2.2 about "Third-Party Sites/Services." It reads as follows: "If your app uses, accesses, monetizes access to, or displays content from a third-party service, ensure that you are specifically permitted to do so under the service’s terms of use. Authorization must be provided upon request." The app is still available on Google's Android app store. Amazon would not state whether they had contacted Google about the app as well. Khalifah said that Fakespot is currently considering its legal options.