A sexually explicit app has been the top trending app on Google Play Store in India, defying Google’s rules. The app has been downloaded over 10,000 times.
An app that claims to feature videos about enlarging your genitals has been the top trending app on Google’s Play Store in India for more than a day. The app, which is rated appropriate for ages 12 years and above, defies Google’s policy for sexually explicit content in apps. Interestingly, the app somehow became the number one trending app on the Play Store when it had just 1,000 downloads. BGR India downloaded the app and found it filled with adware.
Google has always taken pride in boasting the massive repository of free apps available on its Play store. Google’s app store, which is the largest app store as compared to other mobile operating platform, has over the years consistently grown, and the app ecosystem has been main driver for the popularity of its Android operating system.
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But it seems the massiveness of the Play Store is becoming a headache for Google itself. The company hasn’t been able to incorporate a stringent monitoring system, allowing poor quality, malware-laden apps that are pornographic in nature to make to their way to the top of the app store.
Developed by “Honeymoon Masala Videos”, the developer has other apps as well with explicit content. These freemium apps are laced with adware that could also be a security proble. This is not just a one-off developer, considering Google shows apps of similar nature from other developers, suggesting it is a widespread issue.
Interestingly, Google claims to have zero tolerance policy for exactly such apps with sexually explicit content. According to Google’s terms, apps that include “sexually explicit or erotic content, icons, titles or descriptions” are prohibited.
“Apps that contain or promote pornography are prohibited; this includes sexually explicit or erotic content, icons, titles or descriptions. Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse imagery. If we become aware of content with child sexual abuse imagery, we will report it to the appropriate authorities and delete the Google Accounts of those involved with the distribution,” says Google on its Developer Programme Policies page.
BGR India has reached out to Google for a statement on the issue.
Pornography isn’t a new problem for Google. Back in 2014, Google updated its Developer policies in a bid to make the Play Store safe for all users, and making sure users don’t fall victim to deceptive ads hiding malware or other tools that help cyber criminals. Besides pornography, Google hasn’t been able to do much about poor quality apps that don’t have substantial content and are filled with adware.
According to an Avast security researcher Filip Chytry, these apps have grown smarter in ways of showing ads to users. In some cases, they don’t start to show ads immediately after installation but wait for days to do so. There have been cases when ads started to appear when app had been installed on the device for over a month.
According to Cheetah Mobile’s 2015 Security Report, countries such as India and China have been the most impacted by Android malware. In 2015, over 800,000 Android users were hurt by malicious promotion malware, while mobile payment viruses caused information losses to over 300,000 users.
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