Google has eliminated a preferred however controversial reside video chat app Chamet from the Play Retailer. The corporate confirmed the transfer to TechCrunch saying that the app violated its user-generated content material (UGC) coverage.
The corporate didn’t present a press release however pointed to its coverage which says, “Apps whose major goal is that includes objectionable UGC shall be faraway from Google Play.” The app was pulled from the Play Retailer someday final month.
Centered round reside video streaming, Chamet supplied an choice to customers to privately name the host of a stream with a cost. A report from the Financial Occasions suggests Chamet and different apps had many ladies streamers who have been dancing to songs or simply speaking about their lives, which made them widespread. Aside from video calls, customers might additionally ship items to those streamers by way of in-app funds.
Chamet tried to stray away from suggestive content material by warning its customers to not broadcast content material associated to “Pornography, violence, vulgarity, juveniles, and different associated conditions.” Nonetheless, the app was stuffed with suggestive content material and adverts.
Final month, YouTuber Caleb Friesen tweeted an extended thread about Chamet’s sketchy possession practices — beginning with the corporate’s barebones web site with little data.
Chamet was on the highest charts in a number of Play Retailer classes as a top-grossing app. And there may be information to again it up. Customers in India spent greater than $13.4 million on Chamet between January—July, in accordance with the information shared with TechCrunch by analytics agency Knowledge.ai. It added that folks in India spent $15.4 million on Chamet final 12 months, with lifetime spending totaling as much as $38 million. The app garnered greater than 26 million lifetime downloads within the nation.
The agency’s information urged that whereas Chamet was a top-grossing app, different apps within the reside video chat class reminiscent of Azar, LiveU, and Honeycam Chat have raked in thousands and thousands. General, customers in India spent greater than $46 million final 12 months on this class of apps — greater than one other high-spending class of courting which noticed an annual spend of $42.2 million.
Google didn’t specify if it plans to take related motion on different reside video chat apps.