Google recently released a statement that informs about the removal of apps to apply for a personal loan in the Play Store in India, a country where the company found the adoption of predatory practices by some financial companies with apps made available on Android, such as charging fees for disproportionate interest.
At an event held in India’s capital New Delhi, Senior Director and Head of Trust and Security at Google Asia-Pacific Saikat Mitra claimed to have deleted more than 2,000 apps from the store after consulting local laws. The executive’s decision is aimed exclusively at personal loan services aimed at Indian users.
According to authorities in the country, part of these companies that offer loans are using this method to launder money from Chinese companies, an action that should be fought both by Google and the government through changes in the digital legislation in force in India.
Although this is the most serious accusation, there is also information that suggests abusive and unethical practices related to the collection of the borrowed amount. In some cases, the fees charged were higher than the ceiling set by the country’s central bank and other measures considered misleading and unfair.
Big tech’s statement does not mention security-related issues of the applications in question, so users should not be concerned about possible malware or viruses present in these applications.
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