patrick.net

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8383257/Google-pulls-Remove-China-Apps-Play-Store.html

'Remove China Apps' that promises to rid smartphones of Chinese-made applications is pulled from the Google Play Store after being downloaded 4.7 MILLION times in India

'Remove China App' was free, had no adds and sought out China-made apps
Users used the app to identify and remove any Chinese apps from their device
It garnered almost five million downloads in India due to anti-Chinese sentiment
Google has now removed the Indian app from its store, citing a violation of its Deceptive Behaviour Policy

An app designed to remove Chinese apps from smartphones and tablets has been pulled from the Google Play Store.

The app, called 'Remove China Apps', garnered nearly five million downloads in India, where anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was free to download, had no ads, and its sole purpose was to detect which apps on a smartphone were built in China.

Users would then be able to swiftly delete them from their handsets via the app itself. Once deleted, a message said 'You are awesome, no China app found'.

Google has now removed the Indian app from its store, citing a violation of its Deceptive Behaviour Policy. ...

Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion at Pixel Privacy, told MailOnline: 'I see this situation as having severe privacy repercussions for Android users.

'The mere fact that an app that can delete other apps could find its way into the Google Play Store is chilling.

'Since the Android operating system (unlike Apple's iOS) apparently allows apps to delete other apps, this could lead to a war between individual developers that sees important apps (and a user's personal data), being deleted against their wishes, as developers battle for Android device real estate and users.'

Lol, somehow this is hilarious in many ways.

First, the fact that someone would write such an app. Kudos to them. I wouldn't trust any Chinese app.
Second, that it can delete other apps! That should not be possible, but is. Probably built-in to Android just to give Google the ability to delete anything "offensive" from your phone.
Third, that Google then suppressed an app that was deleting apps...