Google will REMOVE Android apps from thousands of users’ phones next month in crackdown

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Google removes hundreds of apps from the Play Store (Image: GETTY • GOOGLE )

Google has confirmed plans to evict hundreds Android apps from the Play Store next month. The decision was made after the California tech company quietly updated its inappropriate content policy.

Unlike recent Play Store crackdowns, where Google blocked a dozen applications designed to trick users into downloading malware, the latest removal targets so-called “sugar daddy” apps. Due to the ban, applications will disappear from the Play Store listings. And those who have already installed the apps will see them disappear from their Android smartphone or tablet overnight.

For those who don’t know, a sugar daddy refers to someone who pays a younger user in exchange for sexual intimacy. Services that facilitate this type of relationship are sometimes referred to as “compensated sexual relationship apps.”

A quick search of the Play Store reveals some 250 apps that claim to enable these transactional relationships. Examples include Sugar Daddy Allowance, Seeking Sugar Daddy, My Sugar Daddy, Seeking Arrangement, Spoil, and Elite Millionaire Singles, just to name a few.

According to some users, thanks to these apps, young people have been able to earn as much as £18,000 a month, which is equivalent to a salary of £216,000. And more importantly, it’s more than enough to cover the cost of a college education — so they can leave debt-free.

Android Block Apps Play Store Google UK

A quick search reveals how many applications have surfaced to support these relationships (Image: PLAY SHOP)

At Cambridge University alone, more than 1,000 students were sugar daddies in the 2019/20 academic year, according to data from Seeking Arrangement, one of the services that make these relationships possible.

When approached about his decision to remove all of these services from September 1, a Google spokesperson said told MailOnline: “As a platform, we’re always excited to support our developer partners, but we also work hard to provide a safe experience for users. We’ve updated our Inappropriate Content Policy to ban apps that enable sexual acts in exchange for compensation after feedback received from NGOs, governments, and other user advocacy groups concerned with user safety, which aligns our policies with other Google policies and industry standards.”

Google isn’t the first tech company to take a tough stance on these applications. Apple already has a similar policy in place for its App Store, the only method for iPhone and iPad owners to download and update apps.

Under the terms of Apple’s policy, the ban covers “hookup” applications that “may contain pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution,” which excludes sugar daddy apps.

Both Apple’s and Google’s policies are designed to allow standard dating applications, such as Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. However, these dating apps can be used by people to organize a sugar daddy style arrangement.

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Neela
Neela
I work as the Content Writer for Gaming Ideology. I play Quake like professionally. I love to write about games and have been writing about them for two years.

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