Article 6AJTN Google Restricts Personal Loan Apps From Accessing User Data

Google Restricts Personal Loan Apps From Accessing User Data

by
Krishi Chowdhary
from Techreport on (#6AJTN)

Google-Restricts-Personal-Loan-Apps-From

In response to rising cases of personal loan apps harassing users, Google declares a ban on them, prohibiting them from accessing the personal details of the user, such as their photos, videos, and contacts.

Apps that provide personal loans, or have the primary purpose of facilitating access to personal loans (i.e., lead generators or facilitators), are prohibited from accessing sensitive data, such as photos and contacts.Google

There have been many cases where the lender has accessed the user's contacts and alerted their friends and family about their debts without the consent of the customer. Some lenders stooped further and stole personal images of their customers, edited them, and used manipulated pictures to force them to repay as soon as possible.

While certain borrowers might be late on their payments or intentionally delay the installments, this is certainly no way to retrieve the money.

Google Responds With Bans

After such harassment cases began to rise, Google's first response was to ban the personal apps in question. After being notified by banks and law enforcement agencies, Google went on to ban hundreds and thousands of personal loan apps, especially the ones that were unlicensed.

For example, after the policy requiring personal loan apps to have a license went official in Kenya in January, Google pulled down several apps that couldn't meet the criteria.

Similarly, hundreds of personal loan apps went under review in India, most of which were discarded after they failed to provide a proper business license. But sadly, despite all these efforts. the problem persisted. This is when the tech giant came up with this new update.

The new policy has been pushed overall personal loan apps in the play store and is expected to come into full effect from May 31 in countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kenya, and Nigeria.

In countries like India and Pakistan, Google amped up the security even more and required all personal loan apps to complete the Personal Loan App Declaration. They'll also be required to submit a copy of their license for review.

For example, if a personal loan app claims that it's been licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to conduct business, it'll be required to show a copy of the RBI-issued license before they're allowed to resume business.

Only those apps that can prove that they comply with local and federal laws will be allowed to stay in business.

For non-banking agencies that offer personal loans, Google has instructed to not have more than one digital lending app on the Play Store. Developers who attempt to publish more than one DLA per NBFC risk the termination of their developer account and any other associated accounts.

Google has been criticized in the past for not being too strict against such perpetrators. So this strict action was widely welcomed by both the public and developers who were forced to compete with such fraudulent companies.

The post Google Restricts Personal Loan Apps From Accessing User Data appeared first on The Tech Report.

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