Google Play Store Banned 2.28 Mn Policy-Violating Apps in 2023, Sued Developers Behind 2 Fraudulent Apps

Google Play Store prevented 2.28 million apps from being published in 2023 due to significant policy violations. In a new report published by the tech giant, it highlighted the measures taken over the past year to ensure the safety and privacy of Play Store users. The company further noted that it banned 3,33,000 developer accounts from the platform for confirmed malware and repeated serious policy violations. Google has also introduced new policies to improve the overall user experience in the app market.

In a post on its security-focused blog, Google explained the steps it took in 2023 to protect its users from malicious apps, malware and online scams. In addition to preventing 2.28 million apps from being published for policy violations and banning 333,000 developer accounts, the platform also rejected or corrected around 200,000 app submissions for not ensuring proper use of sensitive permissions. Sensitive permissions include background location tracking, access to SMS and Contacts, and more.

In addition, the app marketplace has also filed a lawsuit in federal court against two app developers for making multiple attempts to upload fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange and investment apps to scam users. The company highlighted that scammers also provided misrepresentations to create a loophole in the acceptance process. “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 added.

The tech giant is also making policy changes to ensure greater user security. Apps that allow account creation will now be required to provide an option to initiate account and data deletion within the app as well as online. This feature has also been added to the Data Security section of the Play Store.

Google has also restructured its App Defense Alliance (ADA) after partnering with Microsoft and Meta as steering committee members. ADA is now under the Joint Development Foundation, part of the Linux Foundation family. The company says the alliance aims to adopt application security best practices and guidelines, as well as prepare countermeasures against emerging security risks.

Security initiatives aren't just limited to Google Play Store apps. The company said it increased Play Protect's capabilities to allow real-time code-level scanning of an app downloaded from alternative app markets. It claims it was able to detect more than five million new malicious apps outside of Play. According to the post, Play Protect's machine learning algorithms learn from each app submitted and improve over time.

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