News today says Google Pulls Ads for the Stalkerware App from the Play Store. Google has pulled several “stalkerware” ads that violated its policies by promoting apps that encouraged prospective users to spy on their spouse’s phones.
According to TechRadar.pro, Google banned ads that promoted apps that are designed “with the express purpose of tracking or monitoring another person or their activities without their authorization,” in August 2020, however, TechCrunch found five app makers who were still advertising stalker were apps.
“We do not allow ads promoting spyware for partner surveillance. We immediately removed the ads that violated this policy and will continue to track emerging behaviors to prevent bad actors from trying to evade our detection systems,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Google Pulls Ads for the Stalkerware App from the Play Store
These consumer-grade spyware apps are often marketed to parents wishing to monitor their child’s calls, messages, apps, photos, and location, often under the guise of protecting against predators.
But these apps, which are often designed to be installed surreptitiously and without the device owner’s consent, have been repurposed by abusers to spy on the phones of their spouses.
Google said its policy on enabling dishonest behavior, which governs the promotion of spyware, bans ads from promoting intimate partner surveillance but does not extend to ads that promote tracking a child’s activity or workplaces monitoring their employees’ devices, the spokesperson confirmed.
The policy also exempts private investigation services, though Google would not say if or how it determines for what purpose an app is used.
Misleading Adverts
The spyware apps reportedly got around Google’s filtering mechanism by marketing themselves to parents who wish to monitor the phone usage of their kids, under the garb of protecting them from predators.
However, many of these apps can be installed on the device of any user surreptitiously without soliciting their consent. No surprise then that they are often misused to spy on spouses earning them the moniker spouse are.
TechCrunch says the ads they helped takedown, in pretty much the same vein as the apps themselves, took advantage of the fact that while Google’s policy bans ads from promoting partner surveillance, it does not extend to ads that promote tracking a child’s activity or workplaces monitoring their employees’ devices.
However, while the ads have been pulled, it appears the apps continue to exist since they presumably weren’t listed on the Play Store in the first place.
Vocal Supporters of Google
Google said its policy on enabling dishonest behavior, which governs the promotion of spyware, bans ads from promoting intimate partner surveillance but does not extend to ads that promote tracking a child’s activity or workplaces monitoring their employees’ devices, the spokesperson confirmed.
The policy also exempts private investigation services, though Google would not say if or how it determines for what purpose an app is used.
