[coffeefirst]

Yes. Going after the crop of fraudsters and SEO scammers trying to cash in on the crisis is a fine idea. But between this and Podcast Addict, it's pretty clear they're just indiscriminately deleting everything or trusting and algorithm to make hard calls.

The odds are good they ban Red Cross or a reputable news organization.

[ravenstine]

Whoa, they took away Podcast Addict? I've used PA for nearly a decade and can't see how they could credibly ban it from their store. Either this is a result of their advanced "AI" making an oopsie or they're using the current situation as an excuse to axe their competition, and I'm more likely to believe the latter. Google always acts with a degree of plausible deniability.

[nailer]

I don't understand how Google could decide a single organisation has the canonical source of truth on a subject, nor the failure in logic Google are using to determine there's any way to determine absolute truth at scale.

Keep in mind the WHO published this in January:

> Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China🇨🇳.

If Google's policy of removing anything that contradicts the WHO existed back then, then they would be deleting any heterodox opinion saying Corona can be transferred between humans.

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?s=20