We are a FinTech startup in India. We give unserved people a credit card. To ensure recovery we collect user's contacts and use them to remind people of their bill if they don't pay. All of this is covered in our TnC, and we warn users of the actions we will take before we do so.<p>About two weeks ago, Google Play banned updates to our app from the Play Store citing this section of their Policy, here: <a href="https://play.google.com/about/privacy-security-deception/user-data/#!?zippy_activeEl=personal-sensitive#personal-sensitive" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/about/privacy-security-deception/use...</a><p>We complied. This is how the screen looked before the change: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/o4Cvh7F" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/o4Cvh7F</a><p>Here's how it looked after the change: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/gHP8BDR" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/gHP8BDR</a><p>We were approved after the change. However 3 days later, we were removed from the Play Store. So now no one can download our app, or update their app if they have a buggy outdated version.<p>Despite regular appeals, Google keeps redirecting us to the policy above.<p>Today I checked how WhatsApp handled user uploads, as it's the same thing we do; sync contacts on each launch(we don't sync when the app is not being used though). Here's how WhatsApp looks: <a href="https://vimeo.com/user112475576/review/406480240/9ca7c4e2c1" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/user112475576/review/406480240/9ca7c4e2c1</a><p>Can anyone help us with what should we do? With the COVID crisis our users are unable to depend on us for their daily spends. We're are the primary credit card for a lot of them, and not being able to service them now, is making us look bad.
> we collect user's contacts and use them to remind people of their bill if they don't pay<p>Are you saying you contact the user's contacts to try to get them to pressure the user to pay their bill?<p>---<p>I read through your TOS and it looks like this is the relevant line:<p>> In case of default or late payment, GalaxyCard reserves the right to use suitable means to collect dues including electronic and or physical communication to the debtor and the debtor's known contacts<p>I think this is a digusting practice, and I am not surprised Google is blocking your app. This is <i>nothing like</i> what WhatsApp does - in fact I don't know of <i>any service</i> at all that does this.
"Can anyone help us with what should we do?"<p>Stop using unethical practices. If you use your clients contacts to spam them, to put pressure on your client, then it seems obvious that you have been removed. And this is not the same as what WhatsApp does. Their method is not quite ethical as well, but your method is way below.
> With the COVID crisis our users are unable to depend on us for their daily spends.<p>If this is truly a humanitarian issue, then then disable the contact harvesting feature
Did these contacts of the user give consent to be contacted? Your behaviour seems spammy.<p>Also the Google page states the following "We don't allow unauthorized publishing or disclosure of people's non-public contacts. " Arguably contacting these people is disclosing they are in a user's contacts. You do seem to breaching Google's policy.<p>I'm on Google's side here.
Actually, I think that there's 2 different problems here:<p>- first is compliance with Google's term. Obviously, you don't say that the USER's contact will be contacted when the USER bill is out of time and the USER doesn't pay... so your USER might not have understood that this will be the case. I think that you should be clearer about the consequences of allowing your app to access the USER contact list.<p>- second, the morality of the app: obviously, some people in occidental (US / europe) countries might find the app principle awful... because we rely more on Justice than peer-to-peer social pressure. But it's more a cultural difference. If the principle is agreed between the people giving and receiving money... why not ? (I guess that the people giving the money is the one requiring the USER to download the app... Am I right ?)<p>BTW: what happens if the people receving the money desinstall the app ? Or empty its contact list ? Or has no contact ?<p>If I would like to trick your system, I would fill my contact list with garbage, get the money, spend it, then let you contact these garbage contact... Or do you require contacts to use your app too (forced "net effect") ?<p>Anyway: nothing common with WhatsApp
> To ensure recovery we collect user's contacts and use them to remind people of their bill if they don't pay.<p>Could you explain this sentence in more detail please.
So you contact people's friends, family, colleagues, and random contacts saying:<p>"This person you know is too poor to pay their credit card bill, can you pressure them into paying it?"<p>Damn. That's a new level of crazy.
Not solutions, but two potential workarounds.<p>Is it possible to open source the app itself and then distribute via F-Droid?[1]<p>Can you provide your customers with a direct apk download? Although, you will then need to educate your customers about the "scarey" warnings about doing so. I do not have Google Play Store installed on my phone and it is an annoyance when app developers do not provide a direct apk download.<p>Initially, from an ease of update point of view, I guess neither option is quite as convenient as the Play Store. However, once you've broken your reliance on Google to distribute your application, you'll never have to deal with such a situation again.<p>[1] <a href="https://f-droid.org/" rel="nofollow">https://f-droid.org/</a>
It's a scummy business and even if its fully legal under the text of the law, you should be ashamed of your tactics and business model.<p>You'll get no sympathy if a private business will remove you from their store.
Holy false equivalence Batman!<p>First, afaik WhatsApp doesn't store your contacts but checks if they're available on WhatsApp.<p>Second, it most definitely doesn't contact them.