Google Play Store to Ban all 'Sugar Dating' Apps

Google Play Store has decided to ban all "Sugar Dating" apps from the platform as of September 1. This new ban was announced along with a bunch of changes that Google posted on its support page. The ban on "Sugar Dating" apps is part of their new restrictions on sexual content. And that's not all, the Google Play Store is also previewing App Set IDs, adding a new Family Policy, and improving the Compliance Policy it currently has. All of these new and revised policies, including some like the Device and Network Abuse Policy, the Permission Policy, etc., will go into effect as of September 1.

All these new policy changes made by Google in the Google Play Store have been shared through a post on the support page of the Google Play Console. The post mentions that there is a full list of policy changes, but a major one involves a ban on apps that deal with "compensated sexual relationships," also known as sugar dating. Google is enforcing a blanket ban on sexual content and is updating its inappropriate content policy to renew the ban on sexual content. This ban will crackdown on apps like SDM, Spoil, Sugar Daddy, and Suger Daddy that are still available on the Google Play Store.

Other changes to the Google Play Store that will go into effect on September 1 include a developer preview of the Fraud Analysis or Prevention Suite ID. Google is also adding some new restrictions to the Family Policy requirements. This applies to identifiers that are used in applications that target children on the platform. Google has also mentioned that developers will need to comply with all policy changes by September 1, except for changes to ad identification. There is also a new section under the applicable policy. This new warning states that inactive or abandoned developer accounts will be closed after they have been inactive for more than a year along with a few other factors.

And there is also a revised user data policy that will prohibit linking persistent device identifiers to personal and sensitive data. This particular revision will go into effect on October 28 and will add a new privacy and data security section to the user data policy.

In addition, Google is also updating policies like the inappropriate content policy. The Google Play Store financial services policy will be updated on September 15 and "clarify the definition of the total cost of the loan and require all personal loan apps be properly tagged under the Finance category". Google is also adding new requirements for personal loan applications in countries like India and Indonesia.

Starting September 29, the Play Store Listing and Promotion Policy will be updated to ban unwanted text and graphics in-app titles, icons, and developer names. Google is also updating its ad policy on October 4 to indicate changes to the use of the Android advertising ID.