Global technology major Google has announced to update its Play Store policies for developers. According to the company, the new Play Store policies target misinformation, impersonation and in-app ads. With its new policies tackling different loopholes, Google aims to improve app experiences and user security.
The move is in line to cut down on the number of copycat apps on the Play Store. With the new policies in place now, unauthorized apps will not be allowed to use national emblems and logos of government organizations.
Further, unwarranted developers are also not allowed to use company logos or pictures of any artist or TV shows to show they are associated with the said entity. “We don't allow apps that mislead users by impersonating someone else (for example, another developer, company, entity) or another app,” Google said. This policy goes into effect on August 31.
Further, Google could ban apps that provide information contradicting professional health advice. So, apps Another policy – effective as of September 30 – targets full-screen in-app ads. The policy asks developers to make full-screen ads closeable after 15 seconds and also bans “unexpected interstitial ads” – the ads that appear when you open an app or game or whenever you progress to the next level in a game. However, opt-in ads, the ads you watch to get a reward, can exceed the 15-second time limit.
Google is also blocking apps from using Android's built-in VPN services to collect user data and ad fraud – rerouting user traffic to another country to earn more money through ads. However, this new policy could also impact DuckDuckGo's “App Tracking Protection” feature.
Among other updates, the new policy also aims to make it easier for users to cancel subscriptions from within the app, effective September 30, 2022. Further, all the legitimate monitoring apps will be required – by November 1, 2022 – to use the ‘is MonitoringTool' flag and also disclose the functionality in the Play Store.
