The tech-giant Google has once again come under the scanner after it removes two applications from its play store over policy violations. The two applications being ‘Mitron’, the ‘Tik-Tok’ like application, and the ‘Remove China Apps’.
‘Mitron; was an application developed by a Pakistani software development company Qboxus which was later purchased by an Indian student. ‘Mitron’ was proving to be a competition to ‘Tik-Tok’ after the latter was hit by the controversy of discrete content. Another application, ‘Remove China Apps’ was an application that will let the user delete the Chinese origin applications on their phone.
The application became popular after the trend of boycotting Chinese products began on social media. The application had reached 10 lakh downloads already. Both these applications were disappeared from the Google play store overnight.
At the time of removal, ‘Mitron’ application had garnered 5 million downloads and was proving to be a competitor to the Chinese origin application, ‘Tik-Tok’. Reportedly, the application has been removed for offering the same services as another application that already exist on the platform. In its minimum functionality page, Google said,
“We don’t allow apps that merely provide the same experience as other apps already on Google Play. Apps should provide value to users through the creation of unique content or services.”
Google’s bias Towards Tik-Tok
The application, developed by Pakistan-based company Qboxus, was first named as ‘TicTac’ and was later rebranded in India as ‘Mitron’. The founder of Qboxus, Irfan Sheikh said that the owners who purchased the application have not made any changes to the source code. He also said that Mitron is a direct copy of TicTac.
The ‘Remove China Apps’ which had gained significant popularity in India in the past week as tensions escalated on the Indo-China border has also been removed from the Google Play Store. The application, developed by the Indian firm OneTouch AppLabs, helped users to detect and delete applications developed by the Chines firms. The firm tweeted that their application has been suspended from the Play store and also said that they were not aware of the reasons. However, the application will still work for people who have already downloaded it.
Incidentally, Google had recently eliminated the negative reviews for the Tik Tok and had restored its original rating on the play store.
Source: OpIndia
