Google plans to display labels on the Play Store indicating official government apps

rear Month Of test, Google today is rolling out labels to the Play Store that indicate official state and federal apps in more than 14 countries. This new label will help users weed out apps that steal money and data by pretending to be official apps.

The company says these badges currently cover more than 2,000 apps in countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Japan, South Korea, US, Brazil, Indonesia, India, and Mexico. The company teased this feature last November when it announced new rules for app developers.

Users will be able to see a new 'Government' badge on official apps. When you tap the badge, you'll see a pop-up that says, “Play has verified that this app is affiliated with a government agency.” Badges also appear in lists such as “Top Charts” in the app.

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Google said it has been working with governments and its development partners to include badges in apps. In India, the company is facing an issue with a number of fake central and state government apps popping up on the Play Store to fool people.

The company noted that Play Store policies already disallow apps with false descriptions, misleading icons, or screenshots, especially those that claim to be official apps.

Google's deceptive practices rules state that “apps that falsely claim affiliation with a government agency or provide or promote government services that are not properly authorized.”

Google said it is asking developers to provide evidence if they have sufficient authorization to process government documents for security reasons. The government is also encouraging people to create developer accounts and publish apps on Google Play using their official email IDs.