As reported by BuzzFeed, Shanghai-based CooTek—a company traded on the New York Stock Exchange—had hundreds of apps in the Play Store including free emoji keyboard app TouchPal, which had been downloaded over 100 million times. But 60 of these have now been removed, and more are likely to follow.
“Our Google Play developer policies strictly prohibit malicious and deceptive behavior, as well as disruptive ads. When violations are found, we take action,” a Google spokesperson told the publication.
CooTek was already on shaky ground after security firm Lookout revealed last month that 238 of its apps, which had been installed over 400 million times, contained the BeiTaAd adware plugin.
