Google removes nearly 600 ad-ware apps from Play store

In late 2019, Google, in a bid curb bad apps entering Play store, announced a partnership with top internet security players--ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium--to form App Defense Alliance. Now, it looks like the new joint action force has started to bear fruits.

Google has announced that it was able to weed out nearly 600 adware-laced apps from the Play Store, and also banned them from its ad monetization platforms, Google AdMob and Google Ad Manager. They are accused of violating Google's disruptive ads policy and disallowed interstitial policy.

The apps never used to deliver the service as advertised, instead flooded the phone's screen with full-page annoying ads during a phone call, unlocking the phone, or while using the map app’s turn-by-turn navigation. In their greed to make quick bucks, they ruin the Android experience for the mobile owners.

Also, the apps were known to mask the activities from being detected and this is a major security threat, as the app developers may go rogue and try stealing financial credentials from the victim's phone.

It's not just the mobile users, even the clients of the app developers, risk losing brand value. They trust the app creators to increase the brand appeal, instead, they come off as an annoying click-bait ad for the mobile user and create a negative image for the brand.

"As we move forward, we will continue to invest in new technologies to detect and prevent emerging threats that can generate invalid traffic, including disruptive ads, and to find more ways to adapt and evolve our platform and ecosystem policies to ensure that users and advertisers are protected from bad behavior," said Per Bjorke, Senior Product Manager, Ad Traffic Quality, Google.

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