Google has made changes in its ad policy soon after removing Mobikwik from its Play Store. Google has stated that apps containing links to external sites or other apps should be correctly labelled as an ‘ad.’
According to a report, Google has decided to create a new label, which will require having an icon depicting an external link. Importantly, we couldn’t see any changes in the policy for deceptive ads. It may take a few days to reflect.
Paytm and Mobikwik have been promoting the contact tracing app Aarogya Setu on their platform citing a public health interest. While it appears like Paytm has started showing Aarogya Setu app in its ad section, Mobikwik has temporarily stopped promoting the Covid-19 tracing app on its platform.
MobiKwik has confirmed that their app has made a comeback after they stopped the promotion of Aarogya Setu. They have requested Google to allow them to resume the promotion of the government-promoted application. The company will begin doing it as soon as they receive a nod from Google.
The government has been promoting the Aarogya Setu app to the extent of even making it mandatory for many services. Till date, the app has amassed over 116 million downloads. Recently, Aarogya Setu was made open source to counter the rising privacy issues around the app.
