Google Play has removed part of the catalog of games and applications from the Chinese DO Global. 46 products of the studio, partially owned by the giant Baidu, have already disappeared from the store.
The total installations of all the company’s projects exceeded 600 million. In six of them, according to BuzzFeed, a fraudulent code was found to cheat the views of promotional videos. The developer may be denied access to the Google AdMod network, a major mobile application monetization service. Imitation of clicks in the service brought the studio high earnings — and took away traffic from users. Note that the MAU of DO Global products was more than 250 million users.
DO Global is also involved in other violations of Google Play rules. For example, a number of DO Global applications were published in the store allegedly on behalf of other developers — Pic Tools Group, Applecheer Studio and Photo Artist Studio.
We actively investigate malicious actions and, if violations are detected, take action. In particular, we deprive the developer of the opportunity to monetize his application using AdMob or publish it in Play.
DO Global agrees with Google’s decision on the whole. But the studio claims that it knew nothing about fraudulent “loopholes” in its applications.
We are fully aware of the seriousness of the allegations. Therefore, after reviewing the reports on our applications, we immediately conducted an internal investigation. We regret violations related to the use of AdMob in some of our products. We actively cooperate (with Google) and conduct a thorough analysis of each application.
BuzzFeed also notes that before that, DO Global had more than 100 apps and games in the store. Google began checking and removing studio products after the publication of a large-scale investigation by BuzzFeed on this topic.
DO Global is a former subsidiary of Chinese Baidu. Later, the studio separated from the Internet giant, but he retained a 34% stake in it.
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