this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026
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Google seems to have pushed a massive amount of ai-generated 4 and 5 star reviews to their new "Android Developer Verifier" app (reddthat.com)
submitted 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) by Redjard@reddthat.com to c/android@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This app is set to stop people from installing apks or using stores and apps not accepted by google ("verification" requires payment of course). The play store listing does not have images, a proper description, and the app cannot be opened.

Screenshots from the play app because google did something custom for this playstore listing which crashes Aurora. It's fixed in the latest fdroid release, but I noticed that too late, so most screenshots are from googles shitty app.

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[–] MrSoup@lemmy.zip 34 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Probably these aren't Google's bot, but just regular bots which need "reputation" to not be marked as such. So they leave reviews on Google and other big apps just to have an history of activity.

[–] esc@piefed.social 14 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Or, hear me out, it could be one of the most shady companies in world (google), that has both control over infra and motive to do it.

[–] VibeSurgeon@piefed.social 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Why would they need bots to inflate the star rating? They own the whole system, they could just overwrite it with whatever the hell they wanted if they wanted to commit some fraud.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 2 points 39 minutes ago

... They would to that to try to slime their way around regulations and accountability...which is pretty much their expertise

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 1 points 46 minutes ago (1 children)

Yeah, and a lot of the screenshotted comments don't even read like bots, they read like someone in a developing country that doesn't speak english as a primary language.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 points 23 minutes ago

So google went old school and is paying a review farm.

[–] Syndication@lemmy.today 7 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Is there a way I can block updates on a newish Samsung phone? Or any phone for the matter? I don't want Google to "verify" all my apk installs. There needs to be a workaround for when we get the big update in September that screws over our third party apks

[–] Redjard@reddthat.com 6 points 1 hour ago

You could uninstall it if you have it currently, then install a dummy apk with the same id that is signed using your own keys. That should stop google services from installing the real verification app.
That's how I've seen past apps be disabled that google kept silently installing.

https://github.com/daboynb/developer-verifier-placeholder/releases
This looks like such a dummy, from a dev who seems to have the main dummy for safetycore too. You can install this and it should be fine.

In the future if your phone has it preinstalled as a system app, you're probabl, sol and have to root to remove and replace it.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 1 hour ago

if your usage doesn't depend on them, i recommend removing all google apps (and vendor bloats) with universal android debloater (uses adb)

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 20 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I don't like the direction Google is taking Android. I'm not in favor of this enforced developer registration.

"Seems to" is not the same as "did." With a couple of LLMs and a bit of time others could've dropped these rave reviews as well. It isn't far fetched that it is Google. But from a PR point of view they'd be stupid if it was them. They gain nothing but bad headlines from a stunt like that. So we probably need a bit more proof than some screenshots.

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 9 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

A slightly more rational theory is that one (or a few) of those "pay-per-review" networks is using it as a demo of their services.

"Look what we can do to a deeply unpopular app, for $XXX we can do the same for you"

[–] Redjard@reddthat.com 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This is not exactly subtle, so even if that were the case google would have chosen to let the fake reviews remain. They have removed reviews with far less cause and care in the past.
Honestly though I would expect a service that specifically sells fake reviews to do a lot better than this. This looks like a hackjob an intern delivers when you tell them to just quickly do what all those fake review services do.

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Those services are hackjobs. Google is the professional company. If google wanted to do this, they have the resources and ability to do a far better job. That have direct DB access to the play store, they can retroactively spread the reviews out, and even delete/hide the negative reviews.

As for why they aren't removed yet, that could just be that they ban in waves and haven't done so yet.

[–] Redjard@reddthat.com 4 points 1 hour ago

Corporations aren't single entities. They also need internal deniability etc.
As a top executive, you don't want your orders all around the company to do something to the database and skip the regular systems. You want to simply create an environment where someone far lower feels the pressure to fake reviews "on their own", and then you don't notice it until public attention or legal proceedings find it. After that you simply kick out the low level people that were involved.

The fake reviews seem to have been going for at least 6 weeks, so that would have to be a very slow cadence for ban waves.

[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 13 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Big tech workers should resign

[–] Aedis@lemmy.world 5 points 54 minutes ago* (last edited 53 minutes ago) (1 children)

They should unionize and negotiate that they can't get fired over rejecting to do clearly unethical work.

Because right now their options are:

a) Comply with unethical work

b) Reject to do it and get fired and thrown into a job economy where its going to take months if not a year or more to find a job.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 2 points 37 minutes ago* (last edited 37 minutes ago)

Then b.1. Some other desperate guy takes their place and complies

[–] fdnomad@programming.dev 7 points 2 hours ago

Thats pathetically hilarious

[–] AviAdi@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago

I still think this AI revolution is being shoved down our throats instead of being an organic revolution revolution. The funny thing is I did and do use AI features. I just refuse to download or activate any new bs ai permissions. Because I refuse to do that I have lost functionality in my android Device. Now I can't tell my phone to schedule something on the calendar. That feature used to be native with the phone now it's locked behind the AI app. I still use image search a lot, I bet that will be gone soon.

Anyway, this is Google trying to use their idiotic AI to manipulate us again. Just like taking away features to download the AI app, it's all about control now, not utility, not customer service.

[–] gedfromgont@piefed.ca 6 points 2 hours ago

It is doubly hilarious because on most apps I do not even see any reviews anymore for some reason, already for a long time.

[–] shininghero@pawb.social 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Weird, play app on mine doesn't show reviews or anything.
Went in via browser to tell them to fuck off.

[–] partydisk@fedinsfw.app 1 points 1 hour ago

seems like they've blocked that for me now too

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 3 points 2 hours ago

Doesn't even let me leave a review