An application from the Taliban which promotes rape and mass murder has been removed by Google after two days on the Play Store.
The application, called “Pashto Afghan News – Alemara”, featured videos and content from the main Taliban propaganda website. The site contains material that promotes such atrocities as rape and murder.
While Google won’t go into detail on why it was removed due to data protection, we do know that the application was removed for violating company terms, which specifically say that they “don’t allow apps which advocate against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation or gender identity”.
A spokesman for the Taliban got in touch with Bloomberg and commented on the removal, stating, “it is part of our advanced technological efforts to make more global audience”, before saying that the app had been removed due to “technical issues”.
The application was first spotted by Intel Group, a US-based counter-terrorism website which monitors social network activity for Jihadist propaganda material. The fact that the application remained on the Play Store for so long and managed to remain unseen by the screening process raises strong questions over Google’s review process, which they implemented last year as an effort to more effectively manage and control the mountains of apps landing on the Play Store each day.
For more on Google, visit What Mobile’s dedicated Google page.
Via The Telegraph
