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Google is Killing Open Source Android Apps (Here's Why)
(techlore.tv)
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this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
336 points (97.7% liked)
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"Google refusing to grant an account to people they don't like, although they haven't done that yet"
I have no trust that they will play honest or cleanly with that. Google has a knack for banning accounts randomly, and that's a ban for everything, gmail, YouTube, AdSense. Now give them a reason to ban me for any of the apps I choose to sign. Created an app for tracking ICE agents? Good bye gmail account. A VPN app to circumvent porn bans and the government said that's a no-no? No, more account for you.
I don't care who you trust, honestly.
I have no patience for slippery slope arguments to justify poor reporting or misinformation.
For what it's worth, I do think there is a slippery slope and it's reasonable to expect things to tighten down the line without regulatory intervention.
But that doesn't matter, because this is bad even if nothing like that happens down the line, and even if Google can't be trusted the coverage is misrepresenting the issue.
Man, I hate the Internet.
I'm with you on the misinformation bit. But while it wouldn't be honest to report that Google is restricting developers now, I think it's absolutely fair to criticise and react to them building the scaffolding for such abuse down the line.
Like the UK isn't outright banning websites promoting trans rights or other "undesirable" political movements, but they now have the technical and legislative tools to easily expand on it.
I'm not equating the two, and I agree it's important to differentiate between what's currently happening and what could be.
It is absolutely fair to criticise them for the stuff they are actually doing, yes.
That's why I wrote:
Again, there is no need to slippery slope this crap, because it's bad now. So why even point out how little you trust Google will do the bad thing they said they are doing for 100% real and imagine a worse thing they'll do later, even if it's likely that they will? All it does is invite pedants like me to argue with you, which can then be weaponized by Google to say you're deliberately misrepresenting the issue.
I see you are getting some down votes, it's not me, I swear! Your views on this are sound in my eyes.
I should have said I liked the rest of your post, it was only the bit I quoted I wanted to add in my opinion, but I kinda forgot to mention that :)
No worries, I appreciate that.
FWIW, I don't really care about downvotes either way. I am clearly not here to pander, with my "NUANCED POINT IS NUANCED, YOU NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY CHILDREN" persona.