[UPDATED] Google banned Metamask from Play Store 1 week ago

[DreamStage]

Soon after Google-owned Youtube has swung the strikes hammer against video content creators that talked about cryptocurrency-related topics, another arm of the search monopoly has taken down a popular ethereum dapps client.

Google Play, the official app store for the Android operating system which is used by billions of mobile devices around the world and operated by Google, has banned the crypto app Metamask. The company pointed its restricted content policy on apps that expose users to deceptive or harmful financial products and services as a reason for the ban. The policy details that “we don’t allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices,” despite the fact that mining is something Metamask is not designed to do.

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For those who don't know it's wise to say that MetaMask allows you to run Ethereum dApps right in your browser without running a full Ethereum node.

Project's page: https://metamask.io/

You can install MetaMask add-on in Chrome, Firefox, Opera but not for Android anymore which is very sad =/

Were you using it for your Android? Had it affect for you and have you found any alternatives?

Looks like Google and Youtube are looking more into such apps

[DaMut]

this is an old story, they restored it back.
https://tokenpost.com/Google-restores-MetaMask-crypto-wallet-app-on-Android-app-store-4665
or you can see it on their official twitter talking about restoration
https://twitter.com/metamask_io/status/1212431777047830528

[DreamStage]

this is an old story, they restored it back.
https://tokenpost.com/Google-restores-MetaMask-crypto-wallet-app-on-Android-app-store-4665
or you can see it on their official twitter talking about restoration
https://twitter.com/metamask_io/status/1212431777047830528

Hum my twitter metamask wasn't updated so i could not see that, my bad.

PS: I have updated the post just so more people become aware of on going google's situation concerning such apps.

[iotarocket]

The problem, as I see it, is not that these services are temporarily removed or censored, but that one entity has the power to control what people access. This is very disturbing. We need to move away from being dependent on monopoly institutions. Not just in terms of cryptocurrencies, but also education, finance in general, technology, and other areas of life must we free ourselves.

I am not sure if this is orchestrated or what. It seems Google is behaving suspiciously lately. Perhaps it's just that there are some incompetent managers, and there is no larger agenda. I try not to be cynical about these things.

[iamaruf]

Actually I am Little bit worried. I just saw metamask in Google play store. Maybe it will take time to remove apps from play store.    

[Casdinyard]

It seems Google is behaving suspiciously lately.

That isn't suspicious but lately YouTube seems doesn't want their platform to be use for fraudulent activities. Though they should be doing it before when crypto were mainstream.

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Tbh, I really didn't install metamask on mobile as this is more vulnerable to virus than having it on desktop. Just use trust wallet instead. Though this isn't an extension, of course.

[nickenburg]

I think there is no reason for Google to ban Metamask from the Appstore at all, I read that they banned metamask before this, and the strong community started messaging google to bring it back to the appstore and they where succesfull.

Also it's probably a good time to switch ur browser to the Brave browser anyway, I slowly been doing that and I really like the browser it has Addblock automatically in the browser, is faster and you can earn BAT their Token from clicking on the advertisements.

The user base been going up and I think more people will start using the Brave Browser instead of Google.

 

[piebeyb]

I never use a wallet application for Android, I use Metamask and install it on my Firefox browser on my computer, I'm worried about that. If they forbid metamask, is it also possible to other crypto wallet applications like Myetherwallet and others, I don't know there might be a little bug or problems in the Metamask application for Android, so Gogole forbids it, I usually consider this just a misunderstanding, let's look at the next few weeks about this problem

[Landak]

Yeah right a week ago indeed Metamask on android was blocked by Google, there are already people who discuss it here; https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5212874.0
but now it can be used again and 2 days ago I have got the Metamask browser update on my android.
I see everything is back to normal and it seems yesterday it was just a misunderstanding from Google.

[DaMut]

Actually I am Little bit worried. I just saw metamask in Google play store. Maybe it will take time to remove apps from play store.    

you do not need to worry because they restored it back, you can use it again as usual.

It seems Google is behaving suspiciously lately.

I think it is understandable for them to do it, the reason they banned metamask before because they thought metamask is using the phone to mine cryptocurrency but the truth is not. that was why they made an apology and restored it back, for youtube they did that because they received a lot of reports about fake streaming.

[gweedo]

Everything is back to the way it was. We have spent a few weeks with lots of bad news but fortunately all have been restored. Youtube deletes cryptocurrency videos, google banned metamasks ... all of these are just misunderstandings in their security issues.
And now we are in a bull run market and things are about to go up like 2017

[kolonel_x]

Finally, Metasmask reappears in the google play store and people can enjoy it again, I think this will continue to exist because of the growing cyptocurrency and I'm sure Google will continue to adopt crypto in the next few years to believe it.
Maybe this is just a misunderstanding so it doesn't cause polemic in the community.

[jossiel]

I don't use metamask so it wasn't really a concern to me that it was removed on playstore but this was already good again and they were back on playstore.

I think there is no reason for Google to ban Metamask from the Appstore at all, I read that they banned metamask before this, and the strong community started messaging google to bring it back to the appstore and they where succesfull.

There is no reason to remove them but google's system has considered them to be one of those "mining" apps that must be removed all over their platform.

[wajik-tempe]

I don't understand why big companies most of them are againts crypto, even though crypto is really potential thing that could cover a world wide payments, if they are together developing this blockchain i'm sure they will rule the world by their own blockchain creation since the top programmers and top IT guys are in google. Maybe something they're afraid of so they can not let the crypto grow

[o48o]

I don't understand why big companies most of them are againts crypto, even though crypto is really potential thing that could cover a world wide payments, if they are together developing this blockchain i'm sure they will rule the world by their own blockchain creation since the top programmers and top IT guys are in google. Maybe something they're afraid of so they can not let the crypto grow

I think it's because at the moment, with cryptos, they would have to do kyc for crypto users because of some regulations, and that's a whole another beast with additional costs. With normal bank transactions, paypals etc they can id the users and where the money comes from.

[Dickiy]

for metamask android application as long as I know ethereum I never used it and for the ban on playstore for me it's reasonable to avoid cheating applications impersonating metamask, besides that maybe the metamask security system on android is less strict

[magneto]

It makes no sense to ban an app which is backed by a company who has such a positive mission, in terms of their anti-phishing chrome extension or whatnot.

At the end of the day though we've obviously seen great purges from Youtube and Google in terms of crypto related stuff, whether it's youtube videos or google ads. So I wouldn't be surprised if they start censoring other stuff in the future as well, that's just the way it works when you have control over a significant portion of information's dissemination.

Hopefully apple doesn't follow suit, but it could be inevitable.

[valuater]

for metamask android application as long as I know ethereum I never used it and for the ban on playstore for me it's reasonable to avoid cheating applications impersonating metamask, besides that maybe the metamask security system on android is less strict

It looks like a security issue but something is strange. the playstore on my device still provides mobile metamask, does this rule only apply in certain countries?

[clickerz]

this is an old story, they restored it back.
https://tokenpost.com/Google-restores-MetaMask-crypto-wallet-app-on-Android-app-store-4665
or you can see it on their official twitter talking about restoration
https://twitter.com/metamask_io/status/1212431777047830528

Hum my twitter metamask wasn't updated so i could not see that, my bad.

PS: I have updated the post just so more people become aware of ongoing google's situation concerning such apps.

Yeah its already lifted. You can check another resource URL below for this thread reference, it happened 4 days ago already.

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2020/01/03/google-lifts-ban-ethereum-wallet-app-metamask-mining-cryptocurrency/

a tweet from @metamask_io:

Happy New Year! Upon careful consideration, Google has permitted The MetaMask mobile app back on the Google Play (Android) store! Thanks to all the believers in an open web for speaking out in our support!

- @metamask_io

[Dickiy]

for metamask android application as long as I know ethereum I never used it and for the ban on playstore for me it's reasonable to avoid cheating applications impersonating metamask, besides that maybe the metamask security system on android is less strict

It looks like a security issue but something is strange. the playstore on my device still provides mobile metamask, does this rule only apply in certain countries?

it could be that in certain countries prohibit metamask but my advice do not try it if the metamask in your playstore is still available, my advice is to use metamask that is in the google chroume browser or other because it is very easy and safe for sure