Mitron, which is a short video making application and was being touted as a rival to Chinese app TikTok has been removed from the Google PlayStore.
According to reports in multiple media houses, the app has been taken down as Google has found the app to be violating its "spam and minimum functionality" policy.
Earlier, it was discovered that the Mitron app was a rebranded version of a Pakistani app called TicTic, developed by a Pakistan-based company QBoxus.
Google’s policy says that copying content from an application on the PlayStore without the addition of any original content or adding value to it is a violation of its app policies.
Here are some examples of violation of Google’s policy:
- Copying content from other apps without adding any original content or value.
- Creating multiple apps with highly similar functionality, content, and user experience. If these apps are each small in content volume, developers should consider creating a single app that aggregates all the content.
- Copying content from other apps without adding any original content or value.
It also states that the app should provide a basic sense of functionality and “respectful user experience.”
Launched on 11 April, the credit for developing the app was given to Shivank Agarwal, a student at IIT Roorkee.
It has now emerged that Agarwal has not developed the app himself, as previously claimed in various media reports, but has purchased TicTic’s code for Rs 2,500 and simply rebranded it.
After the information came to light Google pulled down the application from its platform citing that it violated its "spam and minimum functionality" policy.
The app has also been reported by many as a threat to a user’s privacy and security as the app’s developer website leads to a blank page and it had no privacy policy.
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