zlacker

>>kotaKa+(OP)
While I like to jump on the Google bash train as much as anyone, this is to comply with EU laws.

Apple implemented a similar change for the EU App Store earlier this year to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulation that now requires app developers to provide their “trader status” to submit new apps or app updates for distribution.

>>JustEx+Cu
Just wonderful. Why does Europe insist on imposing regulations like this that companies then force on the rest of the world? It's one thing if they're benign but this very much isn't.

>>201984+ax
Only monetized apps (whether that be directly paid, microtransactions, ads, etc.) are legally required to go through that process - and it's a perfectly sensible requirement for the government to say "if you want to run a business, you need to do so as a business".

That is most apps - but not the kind of apps Google is attacking here (personal-scale, actually-free, third-party, etc.). And "apps that are not monetized" is actually a very nice thing to filter for from a user perspective.

Of course, the world's largest malware vendors love to use government action as an excuse to do something else malicious.