Google has removed over 2,000 loan applications from the India Play Store for various violations, but unlike with real money fantasy gaming applications, the company sees “real user value” in the loan applications category, according to a top executive. This is despite the fact that numerous instances of people becoming defrauded of thousands of crores have emerged.
By January of this year, the business claims to have banned over 2,000 loan applications from the India Play Store for breaking conditions, providing false information, & engaging in suspicious offline behavior.
Saikat Mitra, head of Google’s Trust & Safety division for APAC, told The Indian Express that most apps undergo an automated technical scan & content policy review before being approved for inclusion in the Play Store. This is in response to questions about how such loan applications are approved for inclusion in the Play Store despite the company’s use of verification checks, which include both automated & human interventions.
Mitra stated that Google is now working on a new policy involving lending apps, that might emphasize cross-checking of underwriters reported by loan application developers, as the issue may have “peaked.”
“In the case of loan apps, there are a series of checks that are carried out such as the rate of interest that is specified. We had a policy change recently which required loan apps to mention which underwriter they are tied to. There are certain cases when we even have a human being looking at it … but we have to understand that the problem of loan apps is what we call ‘offline bad’, which means that all the nefarious stuff is happening outside the app,” he said, also adding that Google is working “very closely” with the law enforcement agencies in taking the inputs & take efforts on the problematic loan application.
When asked why Google did not take a strict stand against the loan applications, Mitra declared that Google finds “real user value” in the former. “Is there real user value in this (loan apps), the answer to that is yes. Of course, what happens on some loan apps is really bothersome, but then for every bad loan app, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of good loan apps, which are underwritten by an RBI-licensed bank or NBFC,” he said.
