App developer who had over half a billion downloads on Play Store gets banned by Google

• DO Global, a Chinese app developer is reported to have run a massive ad fraud scheme through its apps.
• Google has removed over 40 apps, among the hundreds created by the developer on Play Store. Altogether, the apps garnered more than 600 million installs.

Google has banned a Chinese app developer following an ad fraud scheme run by the latter. DO Global, which had a multitude of apps on Play Store, is on the process of being removed from the platform. Google announced this after investigations revealed that six of the developer’s apps were unlawfully using ads for revenue. The apps sneakily clicked on ads when users did not use them, and even hid the fact that they were developed by DO Global.

Worth noting

• DO Global has developed over a hundred apps with more than 600 million installations collectively.
• As of now, 46 apps of the developer have been removed by Google on Play Store.
• In addition, Google’s AdMob platform -- generally used by developers to generate revenue from their apps -- has stopped DO Global from offering ad inventory through its apps.
• DO Global is affiliated with Baidu, one of the largest Internet companies in China. Currently, Baidu has a stake of 34 percent in DO Global.

Developer accepts ‘irregularities’

Soon after news emerged of its ban from Play Store, DO Global has released a statement on its website acknowledging the issues in its apps.

“In the past week, we have noticed a series of reports about our apps by the media. We fully understand the seriousness of the allegations. As such, we immediately conducted an internal investigation on this matter. We regret to find irregularities in some of our products’ use of AdMob advertisements. Given this, we fully understand and accept Google's decision,” the company statement read.

DO Global is one of the largest developers to be banned by Google recently.