Ms. Patell, a 2026 study looked at 434 loan apps across several countries and found that 141 appeared to violate national regulatory rules, while 147 appeared to violate Google's own policies. After researchers disclosed the findings, Google removed 93 flagged apps from Google Play, representing more than 300 million cumulative installs.
If these apps were violating Google's own rules, why were they available on Google Play in the first place? Why did it take outside researchers to identify them, and why haven't all of the 147 apps been removed?