Google has removed the 'Remove China Apps' app from the Play Store. The app had gone viral in India over the last few days with over 5 million downloads following the anti-China sentiment in the country. Tensions between the two countries have increased over the last few weeks due to a military stand-off in the Ladakh region of India and after the Indian government urged over a billion people in the country to buy locally manufactured goods instead of foreign goods.
The 'Remove China Apps' scanned a user's phone and displayed the list of apps from Chinese developers or companies installed on it which they could then uninstall. The app was developed by a company called OneTouch AppLabs in Jaipur, India. It was available as a free download on the Play Store.
Google has removed the app for violating the Play Store's Deceptive Behavior Policy. The policy prohibits an app from making changes to a device's settings or other features without the user's consent and knowledge. It also cannot encourage users to uninstall other third-party apps on their device. The app was not stealing user data or doing anything shady in the background.
The move from Google comes soon after it removed millions of negative 1-star reviews of TikTok from the Play Store. The app's ratings were hammered as Indians flocked to uninstall the app following a YouTube-versus-TikTok war.
Source: TechCrunch
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