Google to remove some Indian apps for fee violation from Play Store | Top Vip News

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Google has warned that it will begin removing applications in India from its Play Store if developers do not comply with its billing policies, taking a definitive step in an issue that has been going on for three years in what is the company’s largest user market. The Android maker said 10 companies in the country, including “many well-established names” it did not disclose, had avoided paying fees despite benefiting from the platform.

Google said this small group of developers had more than three years to prepare and comply with the Play Store payments policy. These companies continue to comply with the payment policies of other app stores, Google said.

Google will begin removing some of the apps starting Friday, a person familiar with the matter said.

“After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court order, we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do with any form of policy violation globally,” Google said. he wrote in a blog post. “Enforcement of our policy, where necessary, may include removing apps that do not comply with Google Play.”

More than a dozen companies in India have challenged Google’s Play Store billing policy in recent years. Among the companies that had filed petitions before the Madras High Court earlier this year were Bharat Matrimony, Shadi.com, Unacademy, Kuku FM, Alt Digital Media and Info Edge. Disney’s Hotstar and Tinder have also questioned Google’s policy.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge, told TechCrunch that Google sent a notice saying companies that don’t comply will be delisted. “We have complied since February 9, the date the Supreme Court order came out. There are no outstanding invoices from Google with us, he added.

India is a key overseas market for Google, where it has invested billions over the past decade and now serves more than 500 million people. The company said on Friday that the Android and Play Store ecosystems collectively supported more than 2.5 million jobs in India in 2022 and that only 3% of developers in India are required to pay a service fee in the country. Fewer than five dozen developers in India are subject to fees higher than 15%, the company said.

Google’s comment on Friday comes after the Madras High Court in January rejected petitions by several Indian tech companies against Google’s new user-choice billing system.

“We have always respected local laws. For years, no court or regulator has denied Google Play’s right to charge for the value and services we provide,” Google wrote in the blog post. “On February 9, the Supreme Court also refused to interfere with our right to do so. While some of the developers who were denied provisional protection have begun to participate fairly in our business model and ecosystem, others choose to find ways not to do so.”

Google wrote in the blog post that the small group of developers not paying the fee while using the Play Store is creating “an uneven playing field across the ecosystem” and putting other apps and games at a “competitive disadvantage.”

The small group of developers can either resubmit their apps by following the rules or maintain continuity in the Android ecosystem by partnering with alternative app stores, Google wrote.

To submit their apps to the Play Store, developers must choose one of Google Play’s three billion options: consumption-only without paying a service fee, integrating Google Play’s billing system (in which the developer agrees to pay Google the long-standing rate). ), or offer an alternative billing system (where the developer fee is reduced).

This is a developing story. More to come.