Nintendo was forced to disable the SpotPass feature from its Swapnote 3DS messaging service after it discovered that some users are exploiting it to exchange offensive material.
Swapnote (a.k.a. Letter Box in Europe) is a messaging service for Nintendo 3DS. It was launched in 2011, allowing 3DS users to share pictures, photos and text through SpotPass or StreetPass. StreetPass works only for users in close proximity to each other while SpotPass works over the internet.
According to Nintendo, SpotPass was the component being abused by some users to send offensive photos to others, including to minors. As a result, the company decided to kill off the feature permanently.
"Nintendo always wants to provide a positive experience for all consumers and limit the risk of any inappropriate activity or misuse of a service," the company said in a statement. "We feel it is important on this occasion to take this action."
Swapnote users can still use StreetPass to share content. Unfortunately, this limits the effective communication rage to 20 ~ 30 meters.