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Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

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Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#951

Post by Spivak »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #736
Spivak wrote: post #726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s funny that they think Google cares at all about the implementation details of your service. The only thing that matters to app reviewers is what the user sees when they use it. If you make your app technically unmoderatable, impossible to remove illegal content, or impossible to respond to DMCA requests you don’t get to just throw your hands up.

> The only thing that matters to app reviewers is what the user sees when they use it. If that were true, web browsers would be in trouble.

Element is a Matrix.org client that lets users choose another server if they want. And Matrix.org hosts public chatrooms. So the fate of Element is tied to content hosted by Matrix.org.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#952

Post by sli »

The fact that Google needs to have Matrix explained to them is, frankly, appalling. I would expect an organization the size of Google would have someone there who's familiar with these not-uncommon federated networks. Or, you know, just stuff that's trendy in general within the tech crowd.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#953

Post by suizi »

brmgb wrote: post #523
corty wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess at some point Google will close the F-Droid loophole in Android and only allow installations through the Playstore anymore. You know, for security reasons... winkwink Maybe the real reason will be pressure from the government to hurt the ones like Huawei a little more, maybe it will be the need to squeeze more money, or maybe the need for censorship because those evil alternative app-platforms allow whatever…

> I guess at some point Google will close the F-Droid loophole in Android and only allow installations through the Playstore anymore. Google standing in Europe is already really shaky. They keep taking fines after fines for abuse of their dominant position. That won't last forever. If they close the ability for other stores to exist, the best case scenario is the EU giving them a huge fine and forcing them to go back…

Does Europe have the power to split Google? Or does that lie with U.S. regulators?

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#954

Post by eeZah7Ux »

cbradford wrote: post #792
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not paint deplatforming as unequivocally bad thing. Most decentralized platforms (mastodon, IPFS, XMPP, Matrix...) have mechanisms to block and defederate unwanted accounts/contents/servers: racism and hate speech, CP, spam, malware Many people don't want government-driven censorship but are very happy with community-driven policies and guidelines.

Once you throw in "hate speech" you are just saying that censorship of things you don't like is ok.

You are saying that hate speech is completely arbitrary - despite being codified in the legal system of hundreds of countries.

That says a lot...

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#955

Post by Thorentis »

fsflover wrote: post #899
Thorentis wrote: post #880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia dumbphone!

What’s its advantage over a Linux phone with kill switches?

Depends what your goal is. I also wanted to detox from too much smartphone use, so half the reason was to help with this. A Linux phone, while great in other areas, wouldn't have helped with that. Maybe I'll try out some kind of Linux phone when I venture back into smartphone territory.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#956

Post by suizi »

sli wrote: post #952

The fact that Google needs to have Matrix explained to them is, frankly, appalling. I would expect an organization the size of Google would have someone there who's familiar with these not-uncommon federated networks. Or, you know, just stuff that's trendy in general within the tech crowd.

Google is so big that one head doesn't know what the other is doing. Some people probably do know what Matrix is, but that doesn't mean the right people do.

It's still a big problem that Google isn't even making the effort to investigate big apps on their own platform to get familiar with them (before letting the AI loose on them).

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#957

Post by suizi »

mackrevinack wrote: post #466

at least they are not called 'riot' anymore. i can imagine a lot of people might have thought it was an app for organising riots or something

A name which Google isn't familiar with (Riot, as opposed to Element) is a possible reason they were suspended in the first place.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#958

Post by alfiedotwtf »

girvo wrote: post #931
alfiedotwtf wrote: post #911

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have put all of our eggs in the iOS and Android basket. It looks like this year we’ll see a few Linux phone come to market... can’t come soon enough

While it’s old now, the Nokia N9 proved to me a long time ago that the Linux phone idea has true merit. Harmattan was a brilliant UI!

I think you mean the N900, which I'd still be on if it did all the bands in my area. You're right though... probably the best Linux phone so far in terms of UI (I think the Ubuntu phone was too complex)

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#959

Post by hedora »

einpoklum wrote: post #912
Arathorn wrote: post #857

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UPDATE: I just got a call from a VP at Google who apologised for the bad communication around this and explained the situation, which related to some extremely abusive content which was accessible on the default matrix.org homeserver. We don't want to go into specifics, but suffice it to say that it's not related to WallStreet Bets or anything like that, but instead is the sort of thing that causes you to get locked…

> extremely abusive content This phrasing suggests it was probably not even illegal to publish. What if this content had been something that Google finds politically or commercially disfavorable to its interests, rather than something we would all think is intolerable? What if it _is_ like that?

To the extent Google can lock you up for life for being inconvenient for their business model, I suppose it could have been innocuous content.

Oh, wait. We’re still a decade away from that particular dystopia, so I’ll guess kiddie porn or actual planning of terrorist attacks.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#960

Post by xster »

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #911
cbradford wrote: post #860

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very happy for you guys. But do take this as a shot across the bow, if and when it serves Google's agenda to shut you down they will. You have a great service, don't let Google control you and be beholden to them.

We have put all of our eggs in the iOS and Android basket. It looks like this year we’ll see a few Linux phone come to market... can’t come soon enough

Ironically if they put the app on Huawei's AppGallery, it would have been up the whole time on a very non trivial amount of phones outside China where the AppGallery is preloaded before and after the Google ban.
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