In the recent years most of the investment firms offer to their clients the possibility to download their apps either from Google Play or the AppStore, making the access to various financial products such as Forex, CFDs, etc. quite easy. However, not all of the investment firms are fully compliant with the regualtions and often instead of making the promised profits the clients remain mislead and even broken. Google, as the provider of the Android operating system and the Google Play Store, has implemented various measures to help manage and control access to content from apps available on its platform. These measures aim to provide a safer environment for all users, not only for kids and families. As an ultimate step Google may block access to certain content from apps in the Google Play Store.
- Google Procedures and Policies
Google employs a multifaceted approach to blocking access to inappropriate content from Google Play apps through content rating systems, parental controls, strict policy enforcement, automatic filtering, and specialized tools like Family Link and Managed Google Play. These measures not only help protect users, particularly children, from harmful content but also promote a safer and more responsible environment for app consumption. By continuously refining these tools and processes, Google remains committed to enhancing user safety on its platform.
Google enforces strict policies concerning app content, which include: a/ Prohibited Content: Google Play’s Developer Policy prohibits certain content, including hate speech, graphic violence, and adult content. Apps that violate these policies are subject to removal or suspension; b/ Review Process: Each app submitted to the Google Play Store undergoes a review process aimed at ensuring compliance with the guidelines. This helps in blocking apps that could potentially expose users to harmful content.
Google employs automatic filtering technologies and algorithms to scan apps and their content continuously such as machine learning algorithms. In addition, Google allows users to report apps they find objectionable. This feedback contributes to improving the filtering process.
2. Our Case Report to Google
Last year Law Firm Mikov&Attorneys reported to Google a popular investment group which app can be got from Google Play. The client, citizen of EU member state with permanent residence within EU, lost her deposits in the amount of several hundred thousand euro after opening an account with the trading platform, thus, she considered to be a victim of harmful practices of the broker. We reported that the investment broker’s representations and confirmations before Google on its compliance with the regulatory requirements of the respective consumer jurisdiction (EU law) might not be true and we might reasonably assume that Google Play rules and codes had been violated by the broker.
In brief our client contracted the Seychelles entity from the group as a securities dealer regulated by the FSAS and was instructed to make the deposits through banks in Australia, UK, Kenya and Cyprus. She was lured to invest on the platform because of the alleged benefits, as follows: duly authorised and reliable trading platform; high return of the investment; security of the investment; professional management of the investment by account managers, i.e. “portfolio management”. Our client was convinced that the platform was reliable, operated by a duly authorised in Seychelles investment firm and that she could generate a secure profit from her investments.
For almost one year our client’s account underwent very quickly several total liquidations of significant amounts without events explaining the drops in margin. In addition, many times it was impossible to withdraw winnings despite the hedge being largely exceeded and the account was profitable. The broker refused a withdrawal, and the account suddenly went to zero. After that all communication stopped.
After realising she would not receive neither her winnings nor her deposits back, our client assigned investigation just to find out that despite lacking the necessary regulatory authorizations the Seychelles broker offered and provided financial products in the EU and UK. The UK regulator FCA warned against the broker in 2023 stating that it did not have permission to offer CFDs and the like in the UK. The broker was acting unauthorized and therefore, illegal also in the EU and respectively other regulatory warnings were issued, i.e. by the Danish Financial Supervision Authority. Worth noting, the French regulatory body AMF has blacklisted the respective websites in 2021 and 2022.
We reported to Google that none of the MiFID obligations were fulfilled by the broker while onboarding our client: absence of assessment of appropriateness of the offered products; absence of warnings that such products are not adapted to her needs; absence of checking of her attitude to the risks. The broker acted in bad faith towards our client as it should never have allowed the representatives of its trading platform to illegally provide the highly speculative services offered by the Seychelles entity to French citizens with absolutely no relevant experience. On the contrary, they even encouraged our client by guarantying her the professional management of her investment. The broker did not inform our client on the risks of opening her account to offshore Seychelles based entity, among which that: the operation of the trading platform did not provide the same best execution and reliability as a platform of an EU regulated broker; non-licensed Seychelles jurisdiction entity does not provide an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme comparable to EU entities; it did not provide the leverage and other mandatory protection measures for EU citizens.
Even though our client contracted financial services with the Seychelles broker, the recipient of her funds were different entities from the group across the world. We strongly suspected that all deposits of our client and/or spreads and fees charged to the Seychelles broker were transferred to the third country companies as part of the illegal scheme of operation put in place by the corporate group and in breach of the money laundering preventive measures.
Finally, we stated that most likely the broker’s representatives had never actually executed any orders on behalf of our client on the financial markets, i.e. the investment services supposedly provided were purely fictive.
- Outcomes
Based on the facts enumerated above we requested from Google to investigate the case and prevent the possibility for downloading the investment broker’s app from Google Play due to the broker’s infringements and misrepresentations.
This April we received a response that in accordance with Google’s practices concerning requests of this nature, Google is working to block access to the content in question from Play Apps in the respective EU member state.
