Mitron probably would have continued with the free-run for quite some time, had it not come to light that the source code of the app was actually developed by a Pakistani developer
Several attempts have been made in the past to bring in the patriotic or swadeshi angle to sell products, solutions or services in India, but few have seen the kind of success that the little-over-a-month-old short video app, ‘Mitron’ saw, before it was finally taken down from the Google Play Store on Tuesday.
With over 5 million downloads since its launch in April, the developers or owners of the app managed to leverage two things quite clearly – naming the app ‘Mitron’, a term made popular by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is perceived as a champion of nationalism, and the need to find an alternative to Chinese TikTok. Though it was reported that the team behind the app was led by an IITian named Shivank Aggarwal, subsequent attempts to trace the said person drew a blank. The team went by the name of ShopKiller and maintained that it was working in stealth mode.
Google confirmed the suspension of the app from its Play Store. The Google Play Store has a “Spam and Minimum Functionality Policy” and can take down apps, among other things, for repetitive content. Examples of violations include “Copying content from other apps without adding any original content or value” and “Creating multiple apps with highly similar functionality, content, and user experience”.
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