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Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

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Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#161
post #131
post #78

I've been getting away from apps installed from the play store over the years. This is one of the 2 remaining apps I have that I paid for. This is appalling behavior my Google. I can't wait until I can make a real Linux based phone my daily driver.

I would love this as well (Linux phone). Sadly not likely to happen on wider scale and nice hardware.

I do not see why it cannot happen. Everything starts from a small number of dedicated users.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. It’s badly affected air travel and who knows what changes will result (or what contracts for pointless bio-security theatre have been made) In the UK, a 300+ page law was basically pre-written and enacted very quickly, reminiscent of the early anti terrorism law. We have set up a bio security unit, currently headed by the security services. UK has a “threat level” system for coronavirus similar to the terror…

Do you think it's unjustified? Other countries have acted much more quickly and saved lots of lives.

One can equally say the PATRIOT act was justified and saved lives. Many people here agreed with that for years until Snowden etc revealed that it was unjustified.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#164

I just downloaded google podcast app. Did a search for corona, there are a bunch of results. Google is not a government entity, neither are all the podcasts I could find using it. I hope they will ban their own podcast app pretty soon.

Make sure you flag Google Podcasts as inappropriate, giving the references to coronavirus as the reason.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#165

This is my first comment in HN. This is the best productive podcast app ever. The developer is also so helpful with any kind of bugs I reported. I hope this is resolved quickly.

I am impressed you remember your password from that long ago.

I'm still using BeyondPod. Development is stale and problems start appearing. It has one-two features really unique that I miss with other apps. First and foremost "Smart Playlists"

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#166
post #148
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube constantly recommends me COVID-19 conspiracy videos since I dared to watch one that was popular here in Germany. Basically on every video I watch I have now german conspiracy videos as recommendations. I did neither like the video or did I subscribe the channel. It's beyond fucked up what Google is doing.

If you're logged into YT, you can try deleting the video from your watch history.

Yeah, I've been doing this a lot lately. It's kind of disappointing how easily the recommendations shift once you click on a video that's sketchy.

In my case, I once made the bad decision to watch a Jordan Peterson video. By itself it wasn't crazy, he was mildly provocative, a little paternalistic, not my cup of tea. But geez, the trash that then ended up appearing in the side bar after that was awful. I find that if I watch some "bad" videos, I have to spend a fair amount of time culling shit out of the subsequent recommendations.

Another way to keep your feed from being polluted is simply to create "garbage user" that you toggle to if you want to view potentially garbage content.

What I really wish youtube did was to allow users to filter out videos that contain keywords we choose, like twitter's somewhat effective "muted words" list.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be automated based on frequency of reports, but either way this is unlikely to be company policy. The people who make these decisions are relatively low-level employees following a company guidebook. The guidebook says it has to go? It has to go. The employee doesn't want to get fired. I doubt it'll stick.

>...but either way this is unlikely to be company policy Perhaps you haven't seen the article because it's behind an Apple News link. There's a screenshot of a message stating company policy as follows: "Pursuant to Section 8.3 of the Developer Agreement and the Enforcement policy, apps referencing Covid-19, or related terms, in any form will only be approved for distribution on Google Play if they are published, com…

That's not what I meant. I mean, it's unlikely that someone high up in the company decided to snipe this app. It's probably a low-level employee following the formal rulebook a little too much to the letter.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#168
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think it's unjustified? Other countries have acted much more quickly and saved lots of lives.

One can equally say the PATRIOT act was justified and saved lives. Many people here agreed with that for years until Snowden etc revealed that it was unjustified.

> One can equally say the PATRIOT act was justified and saved lives.

No, there's plenty of public evidence that lockdowns reduce the spread of COVID-19 and save lives; that's not true for the PATRIOT Act. So this is false, as well as being a red herring...

> Many people here agreed with that for years until Snowden etc revealed that it was unjustified.

I don't think that Snowden and other whistleblowers revealed that the PATRIOT Act was unjustified so much as that what was actually authorized by the PATRIOT Act was a drop in the bucket to what the US government was actually doing in surveillance.

The proximate result of which was Congress expanding surveillance authority to legalize much of what had been being done illegally (authority it is currently in the process of renewing), so clearly it's not even a universal conclusion, even now, that the unauthorized surveillance they revealed was unjustified.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#169
post #3

My favorite (and only) podcasting app. I hope someone who works at Google reads this and flag it internally. This quote really sums up how ridiculous Google is being: > What Google is asking of Podcast Addict would be comparable to Google asking a web browser app to remove references to all the websites and social media posts that reference the coronavirus unless the reference comes from an official government entity…

You can try Pocket Casts [1] who are my favorite and only Of course that's assuming that they don't get the same play store treatment from GOOG It's a little too ironic that Goggle, who has countless times made the argument that they aren't responsible/liable for what their users do on a service ("honestly senator its just a platform we provide"), and then here they are the ones calling for some downstream accountabi…

Don't worry, Pocket Casts is a much bigger developer. They can generate the necessary online outrage to get relisted. It's the small guys that get shafted.

Re: Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

#170
Google is behaving pathologically and directly attacking the dialectic. They are quickly becoming one of the most harmful software vendors in the US.

Continuing to use their software and services in any way is extremely irresponsible. Deplatform now!

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