Google will now ban apps deemed to be promoting medical misinformation or impersonating government agencies, businesses, or companies from its mobile App Store.
The Big Tech company updated its guidelines on Wednesday for the Android App Store, including additional policies regarding the types of apps allowed on the platform. Most notably, the company is expanding its opposition to apps that it concludes are spreading medical misinformation.
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“We don’t allow apps containing misleading health claims that contradict existing medical consensus, or can cause harm to users,” the guidelines read. These include apps providing misleading claims about vaccines, apps advocating unapproved treatments, and apps advocating conversion therapy.
The guidelines also restrict app developers from alleging that they are connected to certain companies. For example, the guidelines list a news aggregator app that attempts to claim in its developer title that it is related to Google as an example of what not to do. The guidelines also restrict apps from using national emblems or logos from businesses to suggest it is an official app.
The guidelines also enforced new restrictions on in-app advertising. Google will not allow apps to display full-screen ads that are not closable after 15 seconds.
The new health misinformation and impersonation policies will go into effect on Aug. 31.
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