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Google Play suspends evangelical church’s app over COVID-19 policy

Google has suspended a mobile app launched by an evangelical church in Idaho, claiming that the app violates the tech giant’s “sensitive events” policy related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last Friday, Christ Church of Moscow, Idaho, alerted its followers that Google Play had suspended its “ChristKirk” app from the Play Store.

 

According to Google Play’s “sensitive content” policy examples of violations include apps that are “appearing to profit from a tragic event with no discernible benefit to the victims,” apps that “deny a major tragic event” or apps that lack sensitivity to deaths of people or groups. 

Over the last few weeks, Facebook, Google and other tech giants began using algorithms and new rules to scrub their platforms of coronavirus-related misinformation, Associated Press reports.

On Tuesday, the church provided an update on Facebook, explaining that it had appealed the suspension. According to the Washington Examiner, Christ Church received a response to its appeal on Thursday. However, Google restated its belief that the app is in violation of the sensitive events policy. 

Source and image: christianpost.com

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