Google starts enforcing Play Store policies in India and removing apps that don’t comply
Google announced on Friday that it is taking the necessary steps to “ensure our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do for any form of policy violation globally,” having given developers in India more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court’s order.
In a blog post, the business stated that when necessary, taking down non-compliant apps from Google Play can be part of enforcing its policy.
As part of the company’s payment policy, developers are free to submit their apps again for listing on Play by selecting one of the three available billing options.
Even if it is a component of a paid service, one option is to operate on a consumption-only basis without having to pay a service fee.
Google stated, “Any developer could use this option to let users access content they paid for outside of the app.”
The second choice involves integrating Google Play’s billing system to conduct business with millions of users globally and provide secure payment methods and central payment management.
The third choice is to provide users in India with an additional payment method in addition to Google Play.
“The fee is further lowered by an extra 4% when users choose to use alternative billing systems. As part of our user choice billing pilot, which is currently available in 35 markets, app developers who are expanding into international markets can also sign up, according to Google.
Meanwhile, “these developers still have other ways to run their businesses on Android, like distributing their content directly through their websites or through other Android app stores.”
The business stated, “We continue to offer our support to help developers get into compliance and existing users will be able to access the apps without interruption.”
According to the company, the Android and Play ecosystems have helped to sustain over 2.5 million jobs in India. It further stated that fees exceeding fifteen percent apply to fewer than sixty developers on Google Play in India.
According to the company, over 200,000 Indian developers who follow the policies use Google Play.
In a petition submitted by tech startups last month, the Supreme Court challenged Google Play Store’s pricing structure as “exploitative” and sent notice to Google India.
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