A few days ago, the news of the removal of two Iranian applications on the Google Play platform surprised Iranian social media users. Earlier, another famous app was wiped out of Google Play.

The Ministry of Communications strongly condemns the unilateralism of U.S. platforms and the unfair sanctions against the country’s technology and cyberspace ecosystem, IRIB news agency reported on Friday.

All possible capacities will be used to realize the rights of Iranian platforms in the international arena, according to Issa Zarepour, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Removing famous Iranian applications from the Google Play Store is a new and big challenge for Iranian startups.

Of course, the removal of Iranian applications from Apple and Google Store platforms is not a new story and dates back to 2017. Due to U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Apple widely removed Iranian applications from the Apple Store, and users of iOS devices faced serious problems.

At that time, Google Play has followed Apple’s lead in removing Iranian apps from its store for a short time, but later the situation returned to normal.

The post Iran to pursue removal of apps by Google Play appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The AC19 app on Google Play Store “tries to reach a clinical decision by asking a few medical questions,” its description says.

According to a report carried by ZDNet, Google pulled it from its app store this week over claims “that it could detect COVID-19 infections, something that is impossible through an app.”

The app, which is still available through the web, initially faced concerns that it was as a means of “spying on people”. But a malware researcher ZDNet worked with, Lukas Stefanko, examined the app and found nothing to indicate it was spying on people.

“The app is not a malicious Trojan or spyware,” he said. Though it asks for permissions, he said those permissions are nothing beyond what you would grant any other health-based app.

The answer for the move by Google appears to be more simple than that: Iranian developer accounts aren’t allowed on Google Play, according to public terms of service statements from Google.

The post Google Play Removes Iran’s AC19 App appeared first on Iran News Daily.