Google Sues Developers Behind Deceptive Apps

Due to serious policy breaches, Google Play Store stopped the publication of 2.28 million apps in 2023. A new report by the tech company highlighted the actions done last year to safeguard Play Store consumers' security and privacy. The company also stated that it had banned 3,33,000 developer accounts from the platform for confirmed malware and repeated serious policy breaches. Google additionally introduced new policies to enhance the overall user experience in the app store—Google Sues Developers Behind Deceptive Apps.

In a statement on its security-focused blog, Google described the steps it took in 2023 to safeguard its users against dangerous apps, malware, and online fraud. In addition to blocking the publication of 2.28 million apps due to policy violations and suspending 333K developer accounts, the platform rejected or fixed around 200K app submissions for failing to ensure the use of sensitive rights. Background location monitoring, SMS and Contacts access, and other sensitive permissions are among those granted.

The app marketplace has filed a federal complaint against two app developers.

Furthermore, the app marketplace has filed a federal complaint against two app developers for repeatedly attempting to post false investment and crypto exchange apps to defraud customers. The company stated that the fraudsters used misrepresentations to create a loophole in the approval procedure. "This lawsuit is a critical step in holding these bad actors accountable and sending a clear message that we will aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of our users," Google said in a statement.

Google is implementing policy adjustments to improve user safety.

The IT behemoth is also implementing policy adjustments to improve user safety. Apps that allow users to create accounts must now include the option to delete accounts and data both within the app and online. The Play Store's Data Safety section has also introduced this feature.

Google has also revamped its App Defence Alliance (ADA), with Microsoft and Meta as steering committee members. The Joint Development Foundation, a member of the Linux Foundation family, now manages ADA. According to the corporation, the collaboration will focus on adopting app security best practices and recommendations and developing remedies to future security concerns.

The safety improvements are not limited to apps in the Google Play Store. The business said it improved Play Protect's capabilities, allowing real-time code inspection of apps downloaded from rival stores. It claims to have detected more than five million new harmful off-play applications. According to the post, Play Protect's machine learning algorithms learn from each submitted app and improve with time.