‘Mitron’ may not be a real friend, gets taken down from Play Store

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”.

Covid-19: Google helps ‘saathis’ share credible health info in rural India

We are helping female internet “saathis” (or trainers) share authoritative health advice with their networks in rural villages in India, says the company

As Covid-19 pandemic affects all sections of the society, Google said that its focus in the on-going crisis in Asia Pacific has been on prioritising three things: contributing to the immediate health response, helping people learn and work from home and supporting the small businesses most affected. The company said in a statement late Tuesday that in India, it is helping female internet “saathis” (or trainers) share authoritative health advice with their networks in rural villages.

“Our team in India has helped local governments share the location of night and food shelters on Google Maps,” said Scott Beaumont President, Asia Pacific. Google started showing the locations of Covid-19 test centres on Google Maps, Search and Assistant in Indonesia, before extending the feature to other countries around the world, including India, Korea and the Philippines.

ALSO READ: Apple, Google ban GPS tracking in apps using contract tracing framework

In Korea, the Google News Initiative is offering weekly sessions training journalists on how to identify misinformation. The Covid-19 pandemic began spreading across Asia Pacific in January, affecting millions of people directly. Google said that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have their schooling disrupted and their progress held back…Read Full Story