Alibaba-owned UCWeb dismissed the reports that suggested that it was removed from the Play Store by Google over data security issues, on Thursday. Instead, it said that there was a particular setting of the app that was against the Google’s policy and so it has been temporarily put back.
It went on to say that all the allegations about running malicious promotions on their browser were baseless. And, that the app will be back next week on the Play Store.
This is the official statement released by the UCWeb spokesperson:
“The exact reason for UC Browser’s unavailability on Google Play is because of a certain setting of UC Browser that was not in line with Google’s policy. The reason for the removal has nothing to do with alleged data security breach or malicious promotion.
We would like to state that we have no records of anyone named ‘Mike Ross’ claiming to be working for UC Browser, as mentioned in some reports. The person claiming to be working for UC Browser is in no way associated with the firm nor represent the views of the company. The allegations of misleading and malicious promotions by the said person are completely false and baseless.
UC Browser new product package will be back on Google Play next week and, in the interim, users and partners can download the product from our website http://www.ucweb.com.”
The statement was released soon after the app was de-listed from Google Play Store on Tuesday night.
There were a few reports doing the rounds that said that Google removed the application due to some data security issues, but this statement from the UCWeb Spokesperson has cleared all the air.
Mike Ross is a Twitter user who recently claimed that the app was blocked for 30 days for using unhealthy and misleading methods of promoting the app for installations, on Twitter.
In the statement, UC Web also declined the claim of “Mike Ross” being an employee of their company. It said that Mike Ross is not associated with the firm in any manner and that the tweet has made is completely false.
After this statement was released, Google was contacted by various media teams to discuss the same. Google said that “Our policies have been designed to provide a positive, safe and secure experience to the users, and this is the reason we remove all the apps from Google Play Store that are suggestive of violating the policies”.
UCWeb further went to clarify that the removal of the app from Google Play Store is temporary and that a new version of the same app has been uploaded on the Developer Console of Google Play and they are awaiting the evaluation. Meanwhile, users can continue to download the application from the company’s website.
However, UC Browser Mini and UC News, which belong to the same group are still available on the Google Play Store for download. Also, the UC Browser has been removed from the Google Play Store is still available on the Apple’s App Store.
UC Browser is a mobile browser app that is designed by UCWeb based in China and is backed by Alibaba Group. It enjoys huge popularity in India with over 500 million downloads. According to a report, it is the 6th most downloaded application in India and has over 100 million active users.
