Earlier today, we told you about some interesting revisions made to Google’s Play Store Developer Program Policies. Some of the most interesting changes included new rules for how apps advertise, which should indeed be beneficial to users who are annoyed by shady ads. However, that’s the just the start of the far-reaching changes Google plans to implement, as the company also says that erotic / pornographic apps are no longer allowed on the Play Store.
Google has banned sexually explicit material from the Play Store for quite some time already, but from now on, the content in your app doesn’t even need to be explicit in nature for it to attract the wrath of Google’s banhammer. To put it bluntly: all of those apps that feature erotic pictures of women will soon be a thing of the past, even if it would be a stretch to consider the content “sexually explicit.” Here’s the new rule in its entirety:
“Apps that contain or promote pornography are prohibited; this includes sexually explicit or erotic content, icons, titles, or descriptions. Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse imagery. If we become aware of content with child sexual abuse imagery, we will report it to the appropriate authorities and delete the Google Accounts of those involved with the distribution”.
While there’s a rather large difference between erotic images and pornography, it isn’t very shocking to see Google take this stance and revise the boundaries even more. Google has long tried to make the Play Store a family friendly place, something which doesn’t really work when apps featuring erotic content regularly make it to the top of the free charts. For some, this news will be a disappointment, while others will probably be happy that their children won’t run into apps with erotic content when browsing the free charts on the Play Store.
Be sure to head down to the comments section and let us know what you think of these new rules. If you’re interested in reading all of Google’s Play Store Developer Program Policies, hit up the source link below. We’ll be keeping an eye out for further changes to Google’s policies, so keep it here at Android Headlines for more.
