Leaving millions of users stunned, Google has taken down the Fintech Company’s online payment app, Paytm from the Google play store. One of the blog released from an employee of the tech giant cites it to be an action against the violation of gambling policies.
Paytm’s fantasy sports service Paytm First Games, available as a separate app in the play store has also been taken down. However, other apps like Paytm for Business, Paytm mall, Paytm Money, and few others are still available for download.
“Dear Paytm’ers, Paytm Android app is temporarily unavailable on Google’s Play Store for new downloads or updates. It will be back very soon. All your money is completely safe, and you can continue to enjoy your Paytm app as normal,” said a tweet from the official account of the Paytm app.
Although Google has not released any official statement behind the removal of Paytm from the Google Play Store, a blog titled “Understanding our Play gambling policies in India” from from the company’s employee indicates it to be an action against the violation of gambling policies.
In the blog, Google’s Suzanne Frey, Vice President, Product, Android Security, and Privacy stated, “We don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. This includes if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies.”
“We have these policies to protect users from potential harm. When an app violates these policies, we notify the developer of the violation and remove the app from Google Play until the developer brings the app into compliance,” read the blog.
Frey further wrote, “And in the case where there are repeated policy violations, we may take more serious action which may include terminating Google Play Developer accounts. Our policies are applied and enforced on all developers consistently.”
The blog also stated, “Redirecting users from one application to another is not permitted on the Playstore. This is the reason ‘Remove China Apps’ was permanently pulled down. Even Mobikwik found itself in a similar situation when they flashed Aarogya Setu ad banner on their app.”
