> Matthew Forsyth, Director of Product Management, Google Play Developer Experience & Chief Product Explainer, said the system isn’t a sideloading restriction, but an “Accountability Layer.”

And... What about accountability for hosting distributing spyware, malware loaded apps from Google Playstore and hundreds of copy cat, misleading apps?

Why can't they pose a question when the phone is setup?

- Yes, I want to sideload

- No I dont want

If the user says NO then to later enable it to allow sideload Yes, the user needs to factory reset phone. Done.

>And... What about accountability for hosting distributing spyware, malware loaded apps from Google Playstore and hundreds of copy cat, misleading apps?

The rules don't apply to billion dollar corporations. Meta is showing 15 billion scam ads per day.

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortu...

> And... What about accountability for hosting distributing spyware, malware loaded apps from Google Playstore

This is no joke. The Playstore is filled with malware that pretend to be a different app. It takes days if not weeks to remove these apps.

I have twice now had to recover the devices of family members when they installed malware on Samsung phones running up to date firmware.

That malware to this level is even possible is another matter.

This right here exposes the bullshittery about the reasons behind preventing sideloading on Android phones.

For Google everything is about protecting revenue, even when doing so exposes their users to real harm, and that's why they will not address the issue of copycat apps, poor practices on play store security or anything else that lowers the number of downloads on apps on play store. But, heaven forbid, I want to download an app that doesn't create revenue for them onto a phone I OWN, Google spends money lavishly.

The Internet cranks are right. Google is run by bean counters and all the invective the cranks heap on the Google leadership is entirely earned.