"Google Bans 173,000 Bad Developers in 2022"

Google recently claimed that it is making it harder for malicious developers to get their software published on its Play Store while removing large volumes of bad accounts.  Google has revealed that it removed 173,000 bad accounts in 2022 and raised the bar for new developers by adding phone, email, and “other identity verification methods.”  This helped the firm to reduce the number of accounts used to publish apps that violate its policies.  Google said it prevented 1.43 million of these apps from being published on the Play marketplace.  All told, Google estimated that it prevented $2bn in “fraudulent and abusive” transactions.  Google noted that they continued to partner with SDK providers to limit sensitive data access and sharing, enhancing the privacy posture for over one million apps on Google Play.  Google said thanks to stronger Android platform protections and policies, and developer outreach and education,  it also prevented around 500,000 submitted apps from unnecessarily accessing sensitive permissions over the past three years.  Last year Google launched an App Security Improvements program which it claimed helped developers fix 500,000 security weaknesses impacting 300,000 apps with around 250 billion installs.

Infosecurity reports: "Google Bans 173,000 Bad Developers in 2022"