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The Tech Giant Google has taken a strick action against Paytm, and removed it from the Google Play Store. Paytm’s consumer facing app has been suspended from the Play Store after “repeated violations” by Paytm of Google’s Play Store app policies.
Paytm posted a tweet to confirm that the app will be restored very shortly, and reassured users that their money is safe.
Paytm is one of India’s largest companies by number of users and transactions. Paytm’s suspension has come in light of the Paytm First sports betting service, which seemingly violated Google’s app policies on unregulated gambling and online casinos.
Google removed Paytm from the Play store due to policy violations related to online gambling.
Google has suspended only the flagship Paytm app, which is primarily used by most users for transferring money among peers, as well as using it as a digital wallet or making payments to vendors that use Paytm’s UPI interface for cashless transactions.
Google confirmed the removal and issued statement in Blog Post –
“We don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. This includes if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies,”
Recently Paytm has added a fantasy cricket tournament that the company, which violates Google Play policies, the search giant confirmed. The Paytm app for iOS is still available for download through Apple App Store. In addition to the Paytm app, Google Play has pulled the Paytm First Games app that also included the same fantasy cricket features with real money betting.
Few days back, Google posted a blog post that updated its gambling policy that doesn’t allow app developers to facilitate sports betting. This was a feature that was provided by Paytm through the recently announced fantasy cricket tournament.
