Erik Moeller, Principal PM, The Freedom Of Press Foundation writes :
Disturbing reports that @GooglePlay is sending out warnings to Mastodon apps like Subway Tooter and @fedilab_app
https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/104763960269049818
Mastodon is free/open alternative to Twitter, with far stronger anti-hate policies than Google’s.
Yet another example of how the “walled garden” app store monopoly is stifling freedom on mobile. This is why it’s easy for Trump to censor TikTok: just target Google & Apple, the gatekeepers.
@fdroidorg may well be the most important project for user freedom on mobile devices.
Google is spreading hate every day through its own products. It is hosting the YouTube Channels for Breitbart, OANN, Daily Caller, and countless other toxic far-right outlets. It’s rich to see them threaten open source app developers for "user-generated content violations
and here
App stores have a track record of acting capriciously & are also easy targets for gov’t censors (including Trump).
At least three software services seem to be affected:
“Husky”, “Fedilab”, and “subway”