Google Blocked More than 2 Million Apps from Being Published in Google Play

Google has blocked 2.28 million apps from being published for violating store policies, the company says in a new report.

The Google Play Store, the largest repository of Android apps, is a perennial target for hackers and fraudsters. When Google rejects an application or an update from being published, it's usually because it somehow violates the store's policies.

In total, Google stopped 2.28 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play. Needless to say, that’s a lot. That doesn’t mean, however, that these apps could be considered malware; it's just that they didn't follow the policies to the letter.

As our own telemetry has shown in the past, some developers try to push potential unwanted apps (PUA) under various guises. They are often interested in abusing ad network revenue and tricking people into installing malicious apps that serve invasive ads.

But “some of the apps that criminals tried to upload could be easily classified as dangerous because they required access to sensitive permissions," Google explained.

Of course, abusing store policies often leads to account bans, which is exactly what happened for tens of thousands of accounts.

“We identified bad actors and fraud rings more effectively and banned 333K bad accounts from Play for violations like confirmed malware and repeated severe policy violations," Google added.

The company also said the store’s policies will become even more stringent, including removing apps from Play that are not transparent about their privacy practices. In fact, Google promises more extensive legal action against bad actors.

"We also recently filed a lawsuit in federal court against two fraudsters who made multiple misrepresentations to upload fraudulent investment and crypto exchange apps on Play to scam users. 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 concluded.