Some think that companies in Silicon Valley are in somewhat of a wild west era where anything goes and they get to make their own rules. In some ways, companies such as Apple and Google do get to make up the rules as they go along, but there are times when they have to be reigned in as well. Many people feel government regulation could have prevented the privacy violations we've seen Google and Facebook face as of late. One way Google is working to prevent this type of issue from reaching a tipping point is by enacting some new Google Play policies to make Android applications safer for kids.

We've already seen the work that Google has put in with Family Link to help parents control what content their children consume. Even parents need help these days so Google is taking some more steps to make the Play Store a place where kids will be welcomed. The Mountain View tech giant is doing this with some policy changes that, combined with previous efforts, make sure that apps for children have appropriate content, show suitable ads, and handle personally identifiable information correctly.

Not only that, but they are also working to reduce the chance that apps do not show up for children if they are not intended for them. Some of this work is being done on Google's end while others will need some work from the developers. Naturally, if your application is targeted toward children then it needs to meet Google's policy requirements here. These developers will also need to make sure ads served from these apps (if the app does serve ads) to be appropriate and served from an ad network that has certified compliance with Google's families policies.

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If your application is not intended for children then developers will need to make sure their marketing material does not target them. Lastly, Google is asking all developers to complete the new target audience and content section of the Google Play Console.


Source: Google