Google announced on Wednesday a series of changes to the security and privacy policy of its Play Store. Among the updates is a “new restriction on content of a sexual nature, specifically prohibiting sex for compensation.” This rule will come into force on September 1, the Californian giant said on its site.
On the page devoted to changes to authorized applications, the company mentioned in black and white the ban on the practice of “sugar dating”. These are physical relationships between young people and older partners covering them with gifts. In a more detailed version of its new regulation, Google has indeed used a vocabulary clearly targeting this type of activity.
This kind of service was already illegal
The paragraph dealing with “content of a sexual nature and obscenities” prohibits “compensatory relationships or sexual arrangements in which a participant is supposed to […] providing money, gifts or financial support to another participant ”. On Google Play Store apps, any proposal for a “service that could be interpreted as an offer of a sexual act for compensation” was already illegal.
Android Police had however spotted the presence on the platform of dating apps with a strong emphasis on the heritage of male users. None of these portals, however, mentioned head-on the obligation for older men to remunerate their younger partners. Google said “work hard to provide [ses] users a safe experience ”. To explain its new policy, the company highlighted “comments received from NGOs, governments and militant associations concerned about user safety”.