Google has issued a ban on approximately 173,000 application developers who tried various methods to get their software published on its Play Store. The web search giant has officially confirmed that it has weeded out a large number of bad accounts and has announced that it will raise the bar even further this year.
According to a source at the technology giant, the company has taken stringent action against those spreading malware and spying tools under the guise of renowned applications and will no longer accept applications that work under the same name and objective.
Google estimates that it has blocked over $2 billion from fraudulent and abusive dealings.
It has also issued stringent rules for developers whose apps access sensitive data and share it with servers, which goes against the privacy rules of the internet juggernaut.
Inside sources suggest that the company is also keeping a close eye on app developers from certain countries, such as India, China, Russia, and some other Asian and African countries, as well as the United States. If found guilty, their accounts are permanently suspended.
Additionally, the company blocks apps with names that are similar to government-related utility and services applications. Previously, it used to allow competing applications. However, to prevent fraud arising from such services, it has decided not to accept applications operating under the same name and motive.
Will it accept applications that are mimicked with just a typo or synonym? Only time will provide an appropriate answer to this question!
Note: Between January and December 2022, Google launched the App Security Improvements program, which helped developers fix over 500,000 vulnerabilities in 300,000 apps that had over 253 billion installs.
