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Google before the end? Cult app threatens to leave the Play Store

The fear is on Google, because an immensely popular app, a cornerstone of the Play Store, threatens to say goodbye. The reason: She was censored and punished. The app developer no longer wants to play this game.

Which app will you have to do without in the future? The, um, Titanic magazine app. And so it is clear to you that we are not very serious about the title. How could we, after all, this is about Germany’s number 1 satire magazine. Of course, Google won’t get the tremors, for them the Titanic app is a little fish.

Because of naked Pope’s bottom: Titanic flies from the Play Store

But that’s exactly why – and now we’re getting serious again – it’s worth reporting that the Titanic wants to withdraw from the App Store permanently. Because she is another small sacrifice of the Silicon Valley arbitrariness App store rules that frustrate so many developers and users. What happened? Google blocked the Titanic app because the cover of issue 12/2020 too offensive be. In the days that followed, two more front pages were criticized. This is about these motifs:

Play Store: Because of these motives, Google kicked the Titanic app out. (Source: Titanic)

The protests of the Titanic makers went unanswered, Google has now blocked the app in the Play Store for two weeks, the digital magazine is only old-fashioned for Android users about the Website reachable. The magazine makers are now announcing that they will withdraw completely from the Play Store if the lock is not lifted.

“Titanic will not censor itself to do justice to the pinched humor of monopoly wankers in San Fernando Valley, uh: Silicon Valley,” says Titanic editor-in-chief Moritz Hürtgen.

For the Titanic – as for many other app developers – such a lock is very painful, because apart from the controlled app stores there is hardly any way to reach app users. As an app developer, you have to rely on the stores. Too bad that they are controlled with barely comprehensible moral criteria. My house, my rules – that’s the motto.

Update from February 16, 2021:

After a Google spokesman told us on Monday that the Titanic app had been “wrongly” blocked and re-released for the Play Store, the app still cannot be found on Tuesday. The Titanic colleagues could not confirm Google’s statement. According to editor-in-chief Moritz Hürtgen, the app was not approved for re-examination. Classification as an “18+” app was also rejected. That leaves the Titanic with the withdrawal from the Play Store – they only want to go back if all of the magazine’s content is approved, says Hürtgen.

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No joke: Google’s monopoly power is a problem

Monopoly power is problematic when it is not just based on laws but, as in the case of Google vs Titanic, aims at taste. Everyone can decide for themselves whether the motif of the Titanic is considered successful or offensive. But everyone (including a satire magazine) should be allowed to express themselves as freely. Google prevented this freedom of expression – and thus, above all, provides new arguments for those who are in favor of splitting up the group in order to curb its market power.

Note: The opinions expressed in this article are solely the views of the author and are not necessarily the position of the entire GIGA editorial team.

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