Google removes Downloader app from Play Store over paper-thin connection to 'piracy'

Image credit : HT Tech It does not sound simple to be an Android developer on the Play Store. If establishing a reputation for yourself and your apps, as well as getting people to download them, weren't difficult enough, you also have to worry about the wildly unpredictable and frequently disastrous effects of Play Store policy enforcement. We've seen developers repeatedly have their apps abruptly removed from the platform despite their best efforts to abide by the guidelines. An software allegedly supporting piracy has recently been removed, perhaps unfairly, all because it includes a web browser? Popular Android TV software Downloader was created to solve one of the more significant issues that power users frequently encounter: how to quickly transfer data to these devices for uses like 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. [caption id="attachment_176263" align="aligncenter" width="875"] Image credit : Engadget[/caption] The issue was brought on by a legal office filing a DMCA complaint with Google on behalf of numerous Israeli TV businesses (via Ars Technica). According to the company, many users use the app to access content without having to pay because it has the ability to load a piracy website. 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. After receiving the DMCA complaint through the Play Console, Saba immediately submitted an appeal, but an hour later Google rejected it. He submitted a second one utilizing the Google DMCA counter-notification form, but he has not yet heard back. The new appeal was most recently updated this morning, Saba told Android Police. He says he has "no way to see what has been updated, but this is the first sign that something has changed since submitting it on Friday when the appeal form was submitted." Also read : Samsung Bans Use of ChatGPT and Other AI Generative Tools Over Security Concerns In a series of tweets, Saba argues that if one browser can be blocked for loading pirate websites, then all other browsers in the Google Play Store ought to have been blocked as well. In his words, he "expected Google to make some effort to filter out frivolous DMCA notices like the one [he] received instead of taking a backseat."