Lately we can see that there are many mobile applications that also come with BNPL functions and also financial loans that allow users to buy goods online more easily.
Although this is seen as very useful, there are incidents where borrowers who fail to pay the loan have been harassed by the lender. Many incidents have also been reported where these applications are seen to have accessed borrowers' media and contacts through their devices.
Because of this, Google appears to have prevented these money lending applications from accessing content like this, without exception. Google has updated their policy page recently, and this latest ban will take effect on May 31, 2023.
Financial applications including financial investment applications, cryptocurrencies, and those that provide financial advice including robo investment applications are also included in this latest policy update.
In the meantime, Google also said that these financial applications must receive approval to operate from the local government before being uploaded to the Google Play Store.
In fact, in this announcement, some countries such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Nigeria are emphasized in this issue, because there are many reports received by Google about financial loan applications used in those countries.