Google Eliminates Numerous Android Apps Of A Huge Chinese Developer

Google has done this for the third in the much recent months where it has removed dozens of Android apps from a major Chinese Developer due to the “Disruptive or Deceptive Ads”. Google was rigorous in mass removing the apps as the chinses developer was going against the ad violations.  As a consequence, two very popular iHandy apps were recently excluded by Google.

The company that Google has targeted is “iHandy” which most certainly is a prime Chinese mobile app developer. Even in the previous week Google silently went on to remove approximately 46 applications from the Play Store that belonged to iHandy. In the initial stage, Google declined and refused to comment on the actions that they took against the company. 

Though recently Google has come forth to state that the reason why they took these actions of removing those apps is that they were found to be deceptive and disruptive advertisements. Further, they also went on to project there polices that were concerning the Google Play developers that were formed to help create the best experience for their users.

Google’s spoke person stated, “The policies are clear and we (Google) explicitly prohibit deceptive or disruptive ads and in case of any violations that are encountered, we will take action”. This statement presented by the google a spokesperson had mobile app development companies in Texas and all those across the USA and around the world shocked and causation as they began to take higher regards to avoid violating this policy.

iHandy is a company that was founded in Beijing. The company earlier this year had gone ahead and filed a few documentations during this year so that they could be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The company identifies itself to be one of the world’s largest mobile app developers and it also claims to have around 180 million monthly active users in over 200 countries across the globe. 

The 46 iHandy apps that were removed by Google included the features of security & antivirus, selfie, horoscopes, health apps, and emoji from the Android Play Store. These apps were gathered to have been downloaded in an average of tens of millions of times. The most prominent and popular apps amongst those that were removed consist of “Sweet Camera, Selfie Beauty Camera, Filters” that had been downloaded and installed more than 50 million times alone.

Google in the start left had only left eight apps of the company in the Play Store which they went on to remove three more after articles had begun to get published in regards to the removal of the apps. In total having 49 iHandy apps being removed to date even though Google has come forth to state that their investigation is yet proceeding. Leaving an assumption that they could be possibly more removals as well.

Google has also confirmed that the removal of the iHandy is no longer monetized using google’s ad network. Since iHnady had filed to go public it had mentioned Google to be at its biggest customer in the year 2018. From this action, an idea was created that the Silicon Valley giant’s ad network comprised iHandy as its single largest source of revenue.

A Vice President from iHandy, Simon Zhu, mentioned in an interview that the company was in communication with Google and is working towards having its apps getting restored on the Play Store. He also said, “It was an unexpected action from our point of view and that we are trying to find out the reasons for such a happening. We are hoping that the apps will return to the Play Store asap”.

He also said, “As we all know that in recent years, Google keeps improving policies and processes to build a healthier ecosystem for users and developers. We are definitely willing to follow these improvements as a developer in good standing.”

The steps were taken by Google against iHandy also brought to light where Google also went and banned 2 other leading Chinese app developers while the action as they identified that there was malicious activity in their apps. The prominent entities were DO Global and CooTek which had been downloaded from the Play Store by the user over a billion times.

The apps of DO Global’s were programmed to encourage fraudulently clicking on ads while it also was violating other rules. The apps of CooTek also had advertisements that violated Google’s policies as it showed disruptive ads while the apps were not even in use. CooTek, in the beginning, ignored the claims of the ban by saying it had removed the offending codes and activities but then to google removed their apps confirming that they had failed to take precise measures of the occurrence. 

It is yet not clear what kind of malicious ads activities were detected in iHandy’s apps. Richard Kramer a senior analyst had shared that Google’s initial refusal to share info in regards to the removal of Ihandy’s app could relate to the possibility that the attorney general of 48 States in the USA including DC, Washington, and Puerto Rico has recently announced an antitrust investigation into the company’s ad to search businesses.