Google removes a game that encourages players to kill homosexuals from the Android store
After complaints by many users, Google has removed, from the Android store, a game that encourages players to kill homosexuals.
The name of the controversial game is Ass Hunter; in it, the player must chase and kill homosexuals. It provoked the indignation of users who expressed their opinions especially via Twitter, and the game was removed from Google Play.
Ass Hunter has been available online for several years, but it landed on the Google store in November, becoming famous there, achieving 10,000 downloads and multiple 5-star reviews, until it was recently removed.
In the game, the user controls a hunter armed with a shotgun, and must kill a specific number of homosexual men before levelling up.
The search engine company doesn’t exert a strict control over the apps and games published on the shop for Android devices; however, Google is always heedful of user comments.
Officially, its policies for app and games developers specify that “no content is allowed that advocates against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, condition, or sexual orientation”.
The description of Ass Hunter is unambiguous: “A game in which you are a hunter and your mission is to kill as many gays as you can or escape from them to level up”.
Obviously, this description is against these Google rules, and against its policy of not allowing, on Google Play, games that include “incitation to hatred” or that promote “violence and bullying”.
But unlike the rigorous terms of Apple’s App Store, the apps and games for Android don’t go through a review process before being published on Google Play. And thus, there have been other similar cases, such as Bomb Gaza, a game that simulates bombing against the Gaza Strip and incites players to kill Palestinians.
Undoubtedly, the underlying issue is the lack of control over the apps that are published on Google Play, but this is an issue that becomes notorious every time there are problems related to computer security, or games that are actually viruses or malware, but seldom when it is about apps that border on the illegal or unethical.
Even more basic is the question whether Google, a company of colossal size and enormous interests, does this because of its solid moral convictions, or because it is the politically correct thing to do. What is your opinion?
Foto via: https://codigoespagueti.com/noticias/google-retira-juego-homofobico/
