Android competitors like to point to Google’s Play Store as a source of spam. There’s no question that Google’s approach of vetting apps later does provide an environment in which spam can enter into the equation, but Google isn’t a company that tolerates such apps. Turns out there was some serious purging in February as nearly 60.000 apps were removed from the Play Store. This is the highest such number for a month ever, and we have no idea how many of these apps were actually deleted by Google themselves. The total represents apps that were deleted from publishers as well, but since the number is so high, you have to assume Google played a big role in them.
Why the deletions? Google isn’t going to tell us anything about it, but it could be from spam as well as other violations from their Terms of Service. It probably isn’t all about spam, but Google does have a section in their TOS regarding spam:
Spam and Placement in the Store
Developers are important partners in maintaining a great user experience on Google Play.
- Do not post repetitive content.
- Product descriptions should not be misleading or loaded with keywords in an attempt to manipulate ranking or relevancy in the Store’s search results.
- Developers also should not attempt to change the placement of any Product in the Store by rating an application multiple times, or by offering incentives to users to rate an application with higher or lower ratings.
- Apps that are created by an automated tool or wizard service must not be submitted to Google Play by the operator of that service on behalf of other persons.
- Do not post an app where the primary functionality is to: Drive affiliate traffic to a website or provide a webview of a website not owned or administered by you (unless you have permission from the website owner/administrator to do so)
- Do not send SMS, email, or other messages on behalf of the user without providing the user with the ability to confirm content and intended recipient.
60,000 does seem like a high number of apps, but when you consider that the Play Store is approaching a million apps, I can’t imagine too many people noticing them.
source: TechCrunch
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