Google Removes Rivalry Apps from Google Play Store

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Avantika Bhardwaj

Jun 3, 2020 — 5 min read

It's pretty obvious how Google got succumbed to Chinese pressure and has removed two rival apps which had posed a challenge to the Chinese apps. Google removes apps from play store because google is playing hard for China. Google deleted 2 apps from the play store: MITRON and REMOVE CHINA APPS.

Google's been playing hard to rescue social media platforms of China and yet such a mysterious behaviour like that is still not-known.

Firstly, it deletes millions of negative reviews from Play Store to improve the rating of the TikTok.
And then, it deletes 2 apps from its play store.

We, as Indians , behave in such naive manner that we have to be the good ones always because this is what Gandhian policies taught us for a long time. And believe me , these are the ethics we eventually behave. The most live example is the short form video app Mitron which shot to fame for its alleged Indian roots amid the backlash against TikTok.

mitron and remove china apps got removed — mitron and remove china apps

It was crystal clear that whoever it maybe , even Google didn't fail to gag for China . Pro-Chinese economy wins with a clean background and left no grey area because at the end of the day it's only black and white.

Mitron goes Down-The-Hill

Google's arbitrary regulation of Android apps has yet again come to the fore as Play Store seems to have remove it from the app list. ‘Mitron’ – the popular alternative for TikTok, which was developed by a Pakistan-based software development company Qboxus and later purchased by an Indian student.

The app was taken down as it was repetitively offering the same content and experience that is already being provided by TikTok. Google claimed in a saying" We don't allow apps that merely provide the same experience as other apps already on Google Play Store. Apps should provide value to users through the creation of unique content or services.

As the tension between India and China mounted on the border within the army troops, online campaigns urging people to uninstall Chinese apps also gathered momentum. Mitron app turned out to be best alternative to TikTok and millions of rushed towards it. . The app went on to 5 million downloads on Android in a few weeks in May. Despite its huge success and significant number of user base, it had bugs and did not have a robust privacy policy.

Based on a report, it was found that Mitron app was first developed by a Lahore-based company named Qboxus. The Pakistan-based company had created an app called TicTac, similar to TikTok. Later, the app was later rebranded in India as ‘Mitron’ whose source code was purchased from a website called CodeCanyon.

According to Irfan Sheikh – the founder of Qboxus, claimed that an IIT Roorkee student, Shivank Aggarwal purchased the source code from them and did not make significant changes to the original app. Mitron has no customisations and is a direct copy of TikTok clone app called TicTac so Sheikh said it's not appropriate. The QBoxus team has claimed that the TicTac app was actually created by them before putting up the source code of the app on sale.

It seems that developers were in a hurry to rush the Mitron app to the market, they neglected the fact to make any amends. They thought to make it a show-bust but remorsefully it didn't land properly as it was expected.

It is to be noted that the Mitron application had a rating of 4.8 on Google Play Store with 5 millions of download. It's funny how Google confirmed the removal of the Mitron app stating that it doesn’t comply with Google’s privacy policies.

Google play store under chinese pressure. — google removes 2 apps from playstore

‘Remove China Apps’ Got Removed

Another application ‘Remove China Apps’, which had gained popularity in India in recent weeks has also been removed from the Google Play Store. The app allowed users to detect and easily delete apps developed by Chinese firms.

More than one million people in India had installed the application on their phone to delete Chinese apps present on their smart phone. The app was developed by Jaipur based Indian firm OneTouch AppLabs, which eventually gained popularity in the country at a time when there was rising anti-China aggression among nationalists due to ongoing tension between two countries at LAC( Line of Actual Control).

When the app bags around 5 millions of users, Google intervened on Tuesday to remove the app from its Play Store. The developer of the app announced on Twitter that their app has been suspended from Play store. The firm are not aware of why Google removed the app from Play Store. They announced that If a user has already downloaded the ‘Remove China Apps’ application on their phone it will still work for you, but new downloads cannot be made.

Google has not specified the exact reason as to why the app was delisted from its app store. However, it is likely to have removed the app owing to the rising security and privacy concerns, Indian Express reported.

It was crystal clear that whoever it maybe , even Google didn't fail to gag for China . Pro-Chinese economy wins with a clean background and left no grey area because at the end of the day it's only black and white.