Google says it prevented over 1.75 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play during 2025, while banning more than 80,000 “bad developer” accounts that attempted to publish harmful apps, according to its latest report.
In addition, Google says it prevented over 255,000 apps from getting excessive access to sensitive user data. The tech giant chalked up its success in keeping the Play Store clean to initiatives like developer verification, something that has been controversial within the Android developer community. It also pointed to new mandatory review checks and testing requirements.
Google also touted its anti-review spam measures, saying these protections blocked 160 million spam ratings and reviews last year, including inflated and deflated reviews.
“We also prevented an average 0.5-star rating drop for apps targeted by review bombing, protecting our users and developers from unhelpful reviews.”
In addition, Google highlighted how its new generative AI systems have been integrated into the review process, “helping our human review team continue to find complex malicious patterns faster.”
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The report comes as Google continues to face scrutiny over how it ensures the safety of consumers using its flagship app store. In November last year, the European Commission announced an investigation into how Google Play, alongside rivals like Apple’s App Store, manages risks related to financial scams, such as malicious mobile apps that impersonate legitimate banking and financial products.
Though it is certainly doing a good job in terms of keeping many fraudulent apps out of the Play Store, third-party researchers have unearthed plenty of examples of apps that have slipped through the net over the past year. In January, a report from Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) found 20 Android apps designed to steal cryptocurrency on the Play Store, which impersonated popular crypto wallets and faked services to drain users’ wallets.
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I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.
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