Emir Bardakçı
Recently, Xiaomi’s App Store released its August App Ecosystem Governance Report, showing the tight examination procedures in app verification and risk screening. In the month of August, it has filtered some 18,000+ apps and detected over 600 illegal apps. These were problem apps about their qualification, privacy, and functionality.
Key Violations Found
- Qualification Issues: An app does not meet the minimum qualifications to operate legally or otherwise.
- Privacy Violations: Selling or distribution of user data without permission.
- Functionality Issues: Applications with more advertisements than functionality, or applications whose functions contain misleading functionality.
Example Cases
- App A: An e-commerce platform that links to areas of inappropriate and vulgar content. Xiaomi removed it and froze the account of this app’s developer.
- App B: A utility application which was considered counterfeiting of a trademark. As part of the same developer, a great number of applications also violated counterfeiting and were removed.
- App C: A utility application whose only forte was an excessive amount of advertising, seriously degrading the user experience. It was soon taken down shortly after its upload onto the platform.
This is part of the crackdown by Xiaomi to offer protection to users from malicious apps while at the same time ensuring that a compliant ecosystem is in place for developers.
