Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one

Google Tightens Android Sideloading—At What Cost to Digital Freedom?

Google has begun blocking sideloaded Android apps in Singapore, citing security concerns over apps requesting sensitive permissions like SMS and accessibility services.

Read the blog at Purism:
https://puri.sm/posts/google-restricts-android-sideloading-what-it-means-for-user-autonomy-and-the-future-of-mobile-freedom/

@ilumium Honor Magic OS 9 (Android 15) stock rom , you cannot uninstall Google apps. Only disable them

OK sorry folks but I've got better things to do in live than watch AI-generated weirdo films made by Google to promote their #DMA compliance "solutions."

This where today's thread ends. I'm out. 👋

Yay #Google goes full in, claiming the #DMA would make Europeans "second class citizens" on Android 😆

And they do the same thing #Apple did yesterday: counting the number of meetings with regulators and other stakeholders in n attempt of proving good will. Still think this rather raises the question how the heck Google can still be non-compliant after all that engagement. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Publishers seem to want:

1. money,
2. opt-out,
3. control,

over the use of their content to train #LLMs. Google admits that this is a disruption of #journalism, and says #Google has "done its best" to help news publishers "evolve". What a bunch of nonsense.

Heavy push back from the room. :)

What everybody wants to know: How can alternative providers compete with #Gemini?

What #Google uses its speaking time for: How AI is incorporated into all kinds of recommender systems since 1998.

Excellent online question by @GrapheneOS calling out #Google for selling "payment integrity" as security feature while using it to achieve vendor lock-in.

Google answer: None. Again. @article19's attempt to follow up was denied for sake of time. 😠

#DMA #DigitalMarketsAct

OK so now @beuc explicitly asks the question on the lack of uninstallation and I followed up here in the room to press #Google on how they keep on pretending disabling apps was the same as removing/uninstalling them and somehow enough for #DMA compliance.

Google's answer: Nothing in combination with lies: they say if an app is disabled, only "remnants of code" remain on the device (wrong) and that "if you remove an app from the Android system partition, the OS breaks" (also wrong). 😠

Can anyone with a regular and recent #stockROM #Android phone confirm if they were able to uninstall (not deactivate!) pre-installed apps like #Chrome, #Youtube, #GoogleMaps, #GoogleDrive, #GooglePhotos, or #Gmail ?

Hmmm, so #Google lobbyists claim "All apps on Android can be uninstalled" but from my testing on #Android 16 with all latest updates on a #Pixel this appears to be false.

Google's own #DMA compliance report from March 2025 says this is wrong:

"Android allows to uninstall apps by: (i) fully deleting apps that are downloaded or pre-installed in the user partition; and (ii) uninstalling apps in the system partition such that they are returned into an uninstalled state."

https://storage.googleapis.com/transparencyreport/report-downloads/pdf-report-bb_2024-3-7_2025-3-6_en_v1.pdf

Blah blah blah I'm gonna spare you the list of unsubstantiated bollocks claims by #Google lobbyists like "Europeans already pay more for flights because they can't use Google to find the cheapest." or "We had 3,000 engineers working 2 years full time to be compliant." and the like rather than explaining to us why we still cannot uninstall the Chrome browser.... 🙄

Okay thank you all, it looks like I'm gonna live toot at least the juicy stuff :)

Interestingly, the Commission introductory talk included a reference to how the fact that #Android is essentially #opensource software facilitates #DMA compliance. 😍

(Which does of course not mean there is no non-compliance in Alphabet products, there certainly is.)

"The DMA and the DSA are not on the table in the trade negotiations with the U.S.," [European Commission] spokesperson Thomas Regnier told a daily news conference. He said the EU would not brook any interference from foreign governments on how it enforces its landmark rules which come with hefty fines for violations." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/eu-tech-rules-not-included-us-trade-talks-eu-commission-says-2025-06-30/

Today I will spend hours in the @EUCommission's #DMA workshop with #Apple so you don't have to. It'll be painful, it'll be funny, it'll be hot! 😆

The workshop starts with Apple lawyers speaking time in which they are supposed to explain how they comply with the #DigitalMarketsAct. Instead, they waste everybody's time with marketing BS and pointless rants against the law (or as they say "the Commission's interpretation of the law").

What a waste.