Google was embroiled in controversy a little while ago over a new addition to Google apps that it stored on the Android Marketplace.
From what I gather, the Google app was aimed at parents to supposedly help them find out if their child was gay.
Like most people, I was rather shocked that anyone should want to create an app like this, never mind Google housing it on its server. I wasn’t the only one, it seems, as the company has now pulled it off the shelf, so to speak.
Interestingly, Google pulled the application after complaints from a number of gay rights groups. There was also a Twitter campaign started by AllOut.org that urged followers to demand Google remove the software.
Speaking with news.cnet.com, a spokesperson for Google said “We remove apps that violate our policies.”
This seems a bit strange considering it was allowed to be stored on the Android Marketplace in the first place. What’s more, the author of the app believed he had created something he thought was playful rather than offensive. He reportedly told The Huffington Post “This app was conceived with a playful approach. It is not based at all on scientific research. Through humour, Is My Son Gay? and the forthcoming novel have the sole objective of toning down/improving the situation and helping mothers to accept their sons’ homosexuality.”
Personally, I think a lot of people will take exception to this. The topic is sensitive enough without the need to develop an app that looks at it ‘playfully.’
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