Google finds itself in hot water for refusing to remove an app that is quite controversial from the Play Store. Here are more details on what happened.
Absher app is here to stay
Absher is a controversial government app from Saudi Arabia, and Google doesn’t want to pull it from the Play Store.
The tech giant told the California representative Jackie Speier that it did not violate its policies, and that’s why it will remain up, according to Business Insider.
Here’s why the app is controversial: it allows Saudi users to access government services and apply for permits, jobs, pay fines, report crimes, renews licenses and more.
But here comes the tricky part: it allows Saudi men to track female dependents and also control their movement.
The Verge reported that Insider’s article highlighted how the Saudi men have the ability to use this app in order to “control female dependents, as it can be used to revoke travel privileges, keep tabs on their location, and send SMS messages with updates about their whereabouts.”
Human rights groups are criticizing Google and Apple
More than that it seems that “following the publication of the report, human rights groups such as Amnesty International have criticized both companies for hosting the app.”
Speier and more reps have sent a letter to the CEOs of both Apple and Google in which they were kindly asked to remove the app from their stores.
It seems that Google has responded to the letter and the app will not leave the store.
In a statement offers to Business Insider, Speier called the response coming from Google deeply unsatisfactory, and she plans to follow up the problem with her colleagues.
And regarding Apple, the Verge reports that back in February, Tim Cook said that he’d be looking into the issue, but there’s no news whether he will pull the app from the App Store or not.
After finishing Theatrical Journalism at the Faculty of Theatre and Television in Cluj-Napoca, Rada reviewed movies, books, theatre pieces and she also wrote articles from the IT niche as a content editor for software producers. At the moment, she is working with various online advertising firms.
