Findings from a recent investigation might push smartphone owners to think twice before downloading any app they deem fit. In addition to a series of iOS apps, at least six Android apps have been caught for breaching the trust of users.
Google has banned six popular apps from the Play Store—the largest app marketplace in the world—following an investigation by BuzzFeed News. The downloads were found to have bypassed users’ radars to commit ad fraud.
The six apps disguised as productivity tools were created by Chinese developer DO Global, and have been downloaded over 90 million times. These comprise: ‘Selfie Camera’; ‘Total Cleaner’; ‘RAM Master’; ‘Smart Cooler’; Omni Cleaner’; ‘AIO Flashlight’.
The tools have been clicking on ads in the background for profit, and “at least two” of the software include code that spur a different kind of ad fraud. They all deliberately concealed the fact that they hail from the same developer, and invaded permissions by secretly collecting and sending user data to China.
BuzzFeed News culled a list of 5,000 of Google Play Store’s more popular apps. Those that requested a “suspiciously large” extent of permissions—in addition to permissions that Android considered to be “dangerous”—were sent to numerous data analysis firms for investigation.
DO Global’s six apps stood out, but the publication stresses that the developer wasn’t the only one guilty of attempting to pull the wool over users’ eyes. A popular television remote app was found to have asked for access to record sound while users were watching television, while a flashlight app asked for more permissions than necessary.
In response to the findings, Google says it has banned the apps for violating its policies. “We explicitly prohibit ad fraud and service abuse…” a spokesperson comments.
“Developers are required to disclose the collection of personal data, and only use permissions that are needed to deliver the features within the app.”
Smartphone users are encouraged to read apps’ permission sheets before going through with their downloads.
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