Google removes Kaspersky apps from its store

by · BetaNews

Google has unceremoniously evicted Kaspersky’s apps from the Play Store. While the Russian security firm insists that the removal is temporary, it comes after the company’s software was banded from being sold in the US.

The move not only means that it is no longer possible to download Kaspersky apps from Google store, but also that existing users are unable to obtain updates. Google did announce the removals ahead of time.

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The US government has long seen Kaspersky as being too closely affiliated with the Russian government, and therefore seen as a huge security risk. Following the ban of the sale of its software in the US, Kaspersky unnerved its customers by forcibly updating their apps to the largely unknown UltraAV.

Kaspersky posted a message in its support forums saying:

The downloads and updates of Kaspersky products are temporarily unavailable on the Google Play store. Kaspersky is currently investigating the circumstances behind the issue and exploring potential solutions to ensure that users of its products can continue downloading and updating their applications from Google Play. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. 

While we are working to restore the availability of Kaspersky solutions on Google Play, users can continue downloading and updating Kaspersky products from other mobile stores, including Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, Xiaomi GetApps and others. 

In a statement given to Bleeping Computer, Google said: “The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security recently announced a variety of restrictions on Kaspersky. As a result, we have removed Kaspersky’s apps from Google Play”. This makes it difficult to see Kaspersky’s suggestion that the removals are temporary as anything other than wishful thinking.

Image credit: Mohamed Ahmed Soliman / Dreamstime.com