The taking down of Paytm from the Google Play Store earlier today was quite the shock for many people. Paytm is used by a large section of the society, especially after the demonetization incident in the country. People are heavily dependent on the app for day-to-day transactions and this indeed was bad news. However, Paytm is finally back on the Google Play Store. The company took to Twitter to reveal that it is listed on the Google Play Store once again.
However, the Paytm First Games app has still not been restored on the Google Play Store. It is unclear about the future of the particular app in the Play Store.
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What Exactly Went Wrong?
The Paytm app was removed today because of the addition of the fantasy cricket tournament recently. Google revealed that the addition of this particular element violates their content policies. However, the Paytm app for iOS was still available in the Apple App Store.
Furthermore, the Paytm First Games app was also removed from the Google Play Store. The main reason behind this was the gambling inducing nature of the app. Real money betting was the main reason that led to the removal of these two Paytm apps from the store.
Earlier today, when the Paytm app was searched on the Google Play Store, “We’re sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server,” popped up. However, people who already had the phones on their devices could continue to use it. Furthermore, the mobile wallet and other services were still available to use.
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Paytm took to Twitter to let users of the app know that the app had been removed but it would be back soon. However, the company did not reveal the nature of removal and just stated, “temporarily unavailable on Google’s Play Store for new downloads or updates”. Later on, the real facts and figures of the removal surfaced on the internet.
What More?
The real nature of the removal came to light after Google posted a blog post earlier today. The search engine giant revealed via the blog post that its gambling policy was what caused the taking down of the app. Furthermore, Google stated that these policies did not allow app developers to encourage sports betting. Moreover, this exact policy was getting violated by Paytm’s fantasy cricket tournament addition.
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Google further stated in the blog post that, “We don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. This includes if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies.” This post finally brought clarity as to why Paytm was actually taken down from the Play Store.
Although the removal of the Paytm app did not last long, it had quite the impact. The entire news went viral on social media and people dropped in their opinions on the subject from across the globe. The entire incident also shows how rigid Google is with their policies and why applications need to be careful with what they are delivering to the public.
Narender Kumar
Always on the quest to learn and share the knowledge. Big fan of books (but not the self help ones) specially fiction. A grammar Nazi who loves to eat, cook, travel and watching thunderstorms.