Google has clarified why it has removed the Mitron and Remove China applications from its Play Store. The company said that the apps were removed for a number of technical policy violations.
For Mitron app, it said it removed a ‘video app’ for a number of technical policy violations including spamming users, repetitive content and more. “We have an established process of working with developers to help them fix issues and resubmit their apps. We’ve given this developer some guidance and once they’ve addressed the issue the app can go back up on Play,” the company said in a blog post.
The company said that it has suspended a number of apps for violating the policy. The brand says that it does not allow an app “encourages or incentivizes users into removing or disabling third-party apps or modifying device settings or features unless it is part of a verifiable security service”. The brand indirectly pointed to the ‘Remove China’ app and said that if apps are “allowed to specifically target other apps, it can lead to behaviour that we believe is not in the best interest of our community of developers and consumers”. The company says that it has enforced the same policy against other apps in other countries as well.
The whole incident came into limelight when Google removed Mitron app, which was touted to be the alternative of TikTok and Remove China app, which deletes all the Chinese apps from the smartphone. Both the apps ride high on the anti-Chinese sentiment in the country. The Mitron app was considered to be the alternative of TikTok, though it was later found that it was a rebranded version of Pakistan’s TicTic application. Both the apps are no longer available for download from the Play Stores.