Google will start removing stalkerware and ‘misleading’ apps from its Play Store from October 21
The tech giant will give app developers until October 1 to remove stalkerware code from their official online store.
Google has announced that it is clamping down on apps containing stalkerware capabilities, defined by the company as “code that transmits personal information off the device without adequate notice or consent and doesn’t display a persistent notification that this is happening.”
On September 16, the company updated its Developer Program Policy to state that any apps distributed on its store that monitors a user’s behaviour must include, “adequate notice or consent”; a “persistent notification” of background tracking; must not present their app as a “spying or secret surveillance solution”; or attempt to “hide” or “mislead” users of their surveillance purposes.
Source: Google will start removing stalkerware and ‘misleading’ apps from its Play Store from October 21
