Taylor Kerns / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Red Dot, an app meant to alert users to ICE activity in their area, has been removed from the Play Store.
- Google tells Android Authority that the removal was in line with Play Store policy.
- Red Dot has not responded to our request for comment.
The Trump administration’s escalating immigration crackdown has come with a long succession of eyewitness reports and video documentation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents using pointedly aggressive tactics in communities across the country. This highly public display of government force against civilians has prompted widespread public pushback, including in the form of smartphone apps meant to alert users of nearby ICE activity.
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According to the spokesperson, “ICEBlock was never available on Google Play, but we removed similar apps for violations of our policies.” Google told me in an email that its policies don’t allow apps that carry a high risk of abuse, and that apps featuring user-generated content must be subject to specific types of moderation, a requirement that Red Dot evidently didn’t clear.
Google also volunteered that it hadn’t been contacted by the Department of Justice about the Red Dot app prior to its removal from the Play Store.
On its website, Red Dot says that the app “is a safety tool—not an ICE tracking app.” The site also says that Red Dot doesn’t track the location of law enforcement agencies or agents, but rather “scrapes and aggregates ICE activity reports from multiple reputable sources” as well as anonymous reports from users. The app also lets users receive alerts when ICE activity is reported in their area.
Red Dot didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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