In laying out its side of the story, Paytm said Google didn’t give it a chance to explain its new refund tag feature. The ban by which Google hints that Paytm is a gambling app is defamatory in nature, the Noida-based firm said on the blog.
“This (temporarily removing Indian apps from the Play Store) will be familiar to all Indian internet companies as they face tensions and fears similar to Google’s dominance over India’s digital ecosystem every day,” Paytm said in his blog on Sunday night.
Paytm also reiterated that its exclusion from the Play Store was due to its new cash back feature, which it rolled out to users on Friday morning, according to email from Google.
“There is a bigger question here that the Indian startup ecosystem and developers should think about. As a startup, we are running law-abiding businesses and building for India. Google and its employees are developing policies that go beyond the laws of our country and are arbitrarily implementing them, “Paytm said, accusing Google.
On Friday morning around 11:30, Paytm said it received an email from Google Play Support informing it that the Paytm app for Android had been removed from the list as it does not comply with Google’s policy on ‘ gambling’.
“Your application contains content that does not comply with the gambling policy, as it offers games with” loyalty “points (for example, participation or activity) that (1) are accumulated or accelerated through real money purchases that (2 ) can be redeemed for items or prizes of real-world monetary value, “the Paytm blog said, citing the Google memo.
Paytm also said that its cash back campaign was within guidelines, with no rules being broken, with Google’s payment app Google Pay running a similar campaign this IPL season called ‘Tez Shots’.
“We maintain that our money-back campaign was within the guidelines, as well as all the laws of the country. We didn’t break any rules and there was no violation. It is not related to the game in any way, “according to the blog.
On Friday morning, both the main Paytm app and the Android app for fantasy games ‘Paytm First Games’ were removed from the Play Store. Google opposed Paytm’s integration of real money gaming apps or websites into Paytm’s main payments app, a person familiar with the development said.
In response to these allegations, Paytm on its blog accepted that while Google Play support contacted the company on three different occasions (August 20, August 28, and September 1) with some concerns about a separate matter from promoting Paytm First Games through the Paytm App.
However, Paytm said it had complied with Google’s request on the matter immediately, despite disagreeing with the policy, overall.
“While we strongly disagree with the allegation that we are violating the policy (and we also disagree with the policy itself), we immediately complied with the dictate that prohibited us from promoting our gaming subsidiary. We want to make it clear that generating traffic or promoting fantasy sports is not gambling! [ …] Paytm First Games can make a paid promotion on YouTube (which is owned by Google), but it is not allowed to make the same announcement in the Paytm application, per Google Policy, “Paytm said on his blog.
Paytm also added that Google has enormous control over which apps a user downloads through its Play Store policies, while drawing billions of dollars in ad revenue from the Indian startups that make these apps.
Mint also recently reported that the Paytm First Games ban may have been due to the efforts of the Fantasy Sports Federation of India (FIFS), which said Google was favoring certain fantasy game apps, hinting at Paytm First Games.
FIFS counts sports tech startup Dream11 as a founding member, along with MyTeam11 and Fancode, as platinum members.
“While Paytm did not directly participate in or promote sports betting or gambling, it did have links to third-party sites that did. Google may have seen the ease of using Paytm in these third-party applications as the element that Paytm does. supports these sites. Since many other apps also promote gambling and gambling websites through ads and pop-ups, if Google applies the same standard, I would expect more apps to be removed from the Play Store, “said Akash Karmakar, partner. , Law Offices of Panag & Babu.
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