Pornography use is probably the number one most prevalent spiritual and health crisis in our technology-driven world of today.
In order to combat porn use, companies like Covenant Eyes, Accountable2You, and other anti-porn-use software have been created to help people break porn addiction.
However, if you have an Android phone, these helpful tools are no longer available to you.
Why?
Because they do what they were designed to do.
Accountable2You, a Christian anti-porn app, released a statement addressing the Google ban. Here are some excerpts:
On Thursday, September 22, WIRED published an article titled "The Ungodly Surveillance of Anti-Porn ‘Shameware' Apps." The article focused on individuals who view accountability apps as surveillance software for policing sinful behavior. Some of these individuals felt forced to share their device activity with leadership in their church.
Evidently WIRED reached out to Google with their "findings," resulting in our removal from the Play Store. Our friends at Covenant Eyes also had their app suspended from the Play Store.
A tech publication wrote a hit piece on a Christian software company and asked Google to remove them.
The program is designed as accountability, meaning that if someone downloads the app and looks at pornography, it lets someone else know. This is a common way to combat sin and is recommended by many faith leaders in the fight against porn.
And Google banned it because Wired claims that it's "spying" even though everyone who downloads the app KNOWS that that is the purpose of the technology.
They are voluntarily allowing the app to detect pornography.
Our software provides an easy way for willing individuals to be transparent on their devices by sharing their activity reports with a trusted accountability partner.
Accountable2You markets our services to individuals, families, and the church. We have a group plan that is designed for a church to share a discount with their members. By design, the pastor and church leadership do not see any member's activity. Members can share their activity with whomever they choose or not at all — and we do not encourage pastors to receive accountability reports from their congregants.
Wired made an issue out of something that was never an issue. If someone at some church is misusing the program, that isn't the fault of Covenant Eyes or Accountable2You. They leave the details up to the individual.
This didn't matter and Google removed the apps after hearing just one side of the story.
Google offered the technical reason for the ban and, as one could guess, it's absolutely rubbish.
According to the official email we received, Google suspended the Accountable2You app for a violation of the Play Store's malware policy. The email is unclear about how our app violated this policy, but it seems most likely that the section on "Stalkerware" in Google's malware policy is where they chose to take issue with our app.
Stalkerware, also known as spouseware, is when a third party uses an app to monitor a user's data, usually without their knowledge or consent. Basically, the user of the device is forced to share their data with a third party. If you're thinking of spyware, then you're correct!
Accountable2You does not support, endorse, or allow this use of our service as defined in our terms and conditions.
Unlike stalkerware, an accountability app like Accountable2You is designed for a device user to willfully share — or not share — their usage data with a third party to help achieve the goals they have for their device. Accountability has long been used by people who want to change a habit or build new, healthier habits.
Thousands of happy customers daily use Accountable2You to boost their willpower so they can better use their devices with purity and integrity.
Meanwhile, Amazon, Instagram, Facebook and other apps all listen to you ALL THE TIME and give you ads based on things you just say out loud near your phone.
That's totally okay.
But if you make software that helps people avoid porn? You're the worst kind of evil and you must be banned!
Remember when Google's slogan used to be "Don't be evil"?
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
