Google Inc. to Android app developers , and , allowing communication in decentralized social networks , about the necessity to rectify violations of Play Store policies. Developers have 7 days to address the issues, after which apps that do not comply will be removed from the Google Play catalog.
The reason given for the intended block is the potential use of apps for accessing user-generated content that incites discrimination and includes elements . Apparently, notifications were sent to apps lacking censorship and not blocking servers that host groups promoting racism, xenophobia, extremism, and interethnic hostility. For instance, the Husky app is a branch of the , which did not receive a warning from Google. The differences between the Husky and Tusky applications boil down to the inclusion of a built-in block list, which contains networks such as , which do not restrict user expressions.
According to The developer of the decentralized social network platform Mastodon received notifications that their apps do not promote groups with hate rhetoric and are not responsible for their maintenance, but merely allow the user to input the address of any server of interest in the decentralized social network. Responsibility for the content hosted on the selected network lies with the server administrator, not the app developers. Similarly, Google may require the removal of Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and other browsers, as they also allow users to enter the address of questionable resources and access offensive content.
Source: opennet.ru
