Google has reinstated federated chat app Element on the Play Store after briefly pulling it over abusive content, which is now removed, on Element's servers
Element is a popular client for the federated chat protocol Matrix, and we highlighted it in our roundup of the best open-source alternatives …
The relevant distinction is operational rather than architectural: Element is a Matrix client, but the cited abusive material was on Element's servers. That ties continued Android distribution to Element's ability to act on content hosted within its service.
First-order effects
Element regains Play Store distribution after removing the abusive content, restoring access for Android users who obtain the Matrix client through Google Play.
Google maintains its enforcement outcome while signaling that removal of the identified material can satisfy the condition for reinstatement.
Second-order effects
Other Matrix client and server operators face a clearer incentive to document how they detect and remove abusive content on infrastructure they run, even where the wider network is federated.
Google's later removal of Chamet for its user-generated-content policy reinforces that app publishers must treat Play Store moderation requirements as an ongoing operational obligation, not a one-time review.
Third-order effects
Google's reinstatements point to a store-governance model in which distribution can be suspended quickly but restored when an app operator demonstrates specific remediation, concentrating practical accountability on the parties that control hosting and moderation tools.
The trend: Mobile app stores are increasingly enforcing user-generated-content rules through a suspend-and-remediate model that makes distribution contingent on operators' moderation capacity.
Google have suspended Element in the Play Store without notifying us; we're reaching out to find out what's going on. Apologies for the inconvenience; in the interim there's https://f-droid.org/... but it's a few versions behind. We'll post updates here.
...and the app is back: https://play.google.com/.... Huge thanks to everyone for your patience and support on this, and apologies for the inconvenience. Thanks also to Google for being transparent and apologetic once we'd established contact. Now, back to preparing for @FOSDEM!
Glad to here, and respect to @element_hq for having a solid abuse response team and important thinking on how to do so without backdoors and app removals: https://matrix.org/... https://twitter.com/...
Google's blocking @element_hq from google play appstore... preventing French, German, UK and US governments plus thousands of companies and universities because somebody said something in a chat room that they run on their own servers. THIS IS INSANE! https://element.io/...
Update: we just got a call from a Google VP who explained the suspension was triggered by a report of extremely abusive content accessible on the https://matrix.org/ server. Our trust & safety team had already acted on it, and the app should be reinstated shortly.
I hope that this banning of @element_hq is a temporary mistake and rectified soon, it's used by open source projects, governments, universities... it's the best candidate to be the WordPress of messaging. https://element.io/...
Installed F-Droid on my Android 10 device, because Google went evil and blocked on the Play Store apps that protect privacy and freedom, like element client for Matrix decentralised and federated messaging system alternative to WhatsApp.
If „abusive content" is really @google's concern with Element/Matrix Messenger, there shouldn't be any messengers in the Play store. Or any social networks. Or anything with user generated content. What's going on? https://twitter.com/...
This is big news and really disturbing trend. This is not like suspending parler, it's more like suspending web browsers or email clients because they won't control what you write or read using them. https://twitter.com/...
I've used Element (prev. Riot) every day for the last 3 years building @Polkadot. Google has made an incredibly mistaken move against an open internet. https://twitter.com/...
We recently started using Element instead of Slack because it's end-to-end encrypted and ... not owned by Salesforce (who have contracts with Border Patrol, among other nonsense.) What's up with this @Google? Almost makes you feel like app store monopolies are a bad idea... https…
Google Play suspended Element today, the most developed (and popular) Matrix client. This is less like suspending a service with an explicit ideological pitch, and more like suspending a browser or an email client. https://twitter.com/...
Element is like a “browser” for messaging, it doesn't host user content. Play Stores have gone after Mastodon apps for similar misunderstandings in trying to take down user speech. Open alternatives like FDroid are important. https://reason.com/... https://twitter.com/...
if you're a banking app scamming retail investors google fakes you a 5-star rating, but if you're an open source app threatening surveilled chat platforms it deletes you with no warning. https://twitter.com/...
The @element_hq app has been pulled from the Google Play Store without warning. Google is mistaking third-party client applications for hosting *all* viewable content. Hopefully a dumb mistake they will rectify? https://www.androidpolice.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Don't be Google Google has lost touch with their roots. What they did today is the equivalent of banning a web browser because it could access unapproved sites. Unfortunately, the only effective appeals process is raising a stir on social media. https://twitter.com/...