Google removed app from Play Store due to its association with ‘piracy’

Being an Android developer on the Play Store doesn’t sound easy. You must consider the impacts of Play Store policies on the app other than just building a name to convince people to download your apps. Developers are making hard efforts to follow the rules so that their apps won’t be kicked off the platform. With the latest news, another unjust removal of an app has happened due to its support for piracy.

A popular Android TV app, Downloader, is designed to sort out major problems faced by users about the convenient transfer of these files to fulfil the purpose of sideloading apps. The developer offers a remote-friendly web browser that makes it simple for users to download things from websites, as the name suggests.

As per information via Ars Technica, the issue was brought on by a legal office filing a DMCA complaint with Google on behalf of numerous Israeli TV businesses. According to the company, many users use the app to access content without having to pay because it could load piracy websites. Elias Saba, the developer, maintains he is not connected to the alleged pirate website and claims Google turned down his initial appeal. According to him, his software exclusively directs visitors to the home page of his own website, AFTVnews, and nowhere else.

A short appeal was filed by Saba as DCMA was received through the Play console, only to be rejected by Google within an hour. Another DCMA encounter was filled in by Saba and is yet to be responded to by Google. An explanation was provided by Saba about the second appeal, as he elaborated on the change that occurred since the submission on Friday, when the appeal form was submitted.

Through a series of tweets, he further elaborated that if a browser can be removed for the sole reason that it is able to load a piracy website, then every browser should be taken down in this course. In his words, he “expected Google to make some effort to filter out frivolous DMCA notices like the one received instead of taking a backseat.”

Google has not yet made the app available again, and it is uncertain whether Saba’s arguments will be taken seriously. It’s not difficult to imagine the app returning given that it functions similarly to many other browsers available on the Play Store, but there is no assurance of that yet. There is plenty of precedent for Google to reinstate an app following a DMCA claim, but even in the presence of a valid counter-notice, the process of making things right can still take months.