Remove China Apps and Mitron became the most popular apps that gained millions of user in a short span of time. Both apps have things of commonality; they both promoted PM Narendra Modi's 'Vocal for Local' initiative and both no longer exist on the Google Play Store. Within two days, Google removed both the viral apps from its app store, which led many wondering why this even happened. Google has finally opened up about this and told us the reason. Read on know to why the apps have been removed from the Play Store.
Why Remove China Apps and Mitron taken down from Google Play Store
It is suggested that both Remove China Apps and Mitron apps were removed from the Google Play because they didn't comply with the app store's privacy policies. The 'Remove China Apps' app was removed as it "encourages or incentivizes users into removing or disabling third-party apps". This means that Google Play Store doesn't allow apps to encourage users into removing other apps, and this was exactly the purpose of Remove China Apps.
Google's policy reads, "We don’t allow apps that attempt to deceive users or enable dishonest behaviour including but not limited to apps which are determined to be functionally impossible. Apps must provide an accurate disclosure, description, and images/video of their functionality in all parts of the metadata and should perform as reasonably expected by the user. Apps must not attempt to mimic functionality or warnings from the operating system or other apps. Any changes to device settings must be made with the user’s knowledge and consent and be easily reversible by the user."
For those who don't know, Remove China Apps was recently launched by Jaipur based startup OneTouchAppLabs and acquired around 5 million users. The app was also deemed safer than the Mitron app by cybersecurity researcher at Counterpoint, Satyajit Sinha.
As for the Mitron short video sharing, which acts as a TikTok rival and had millions of downloads. It was removed from the Google Play Store "for a number of technical policy violations." The app was claimed to have violated the policy of producing original content and indulged in repetitive content. To recall, Mitron rose popularity as a TikTok rival amidst the TikTok fiasco in India. However, it was soon revealed that it is a Pakistani app and has security issues, which eventually put the app in the negative limelight.
It is further suggested that the apps can get back to the Google Play Store if they sort their issues. However, the chances of Remove China Apps' reentry seem quite less. Nonetheless, if you already have it you can use it with ease. If you don't, you can refer to this article to know how you can get it.
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