Vietnam pushes Google Play to remove 56 gambling apps

Google Playstore has removed 56 Vietnamese language gambling apps, following the dictates from the government. Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications has announced that the tech giant finally ceded to its request to remove the 56 Vietnamese-language real-money gambling apps from the Google Play online marketplace.

Among the removed apps, 16 of them were found to be exploit users’ data in violation of Google Play rules. The remaining 40 apps were removed solely on the orders of the government.

In August 2017, Google relaxed its longstanding prohibition on real-money gambling apps, but only in the UK, Ireland and France. Helena Lersch, Google’s head for Public Policy and Government Relations for Asia–Pacific markets, was quoted on a Vietnam government website saying the company would remove gambling apps if they are flagged by local authorities.

Source: CalvinAyre