Google removed more than five million negative TikTok reviews from the Play Store after the app’s rating dropped from 4.5 to 1.2 stars in a short period of time, the BBC writes Tuesday.
The music platform TikTok received massively bad reviews after an Indian maker posted a fake video of an acid attack on the platform. In such an attack, acid or a similar corrosive substance is thrown on another person’s body.
In the video, a liquid – it turned out to be water later – was thrown at a woman’s face. In a subsequent shot, the woman’s face was covered in makeup, but it looked like the scars that acid could cause.
The maker apologized for posting the video and TikTok removed the video from the platform. Yet TikTok got it in the Play Store.
A Google spokesperson told the BBC that Google subsequently took action. “When we learn of spammer abuse, we take remedial action by removing inappropriate reviews and comments.”
Google’s promotion has had little effect: TikTok still has a rating of under 2 stars in the Play Store.
