Paytm hits back at Google, terms its brief ban from Play Store as ‘arm-twisting’

Bengaluru: Two days after its main app was taken down from the Google Play Store, payments firm Paytm in a new blog post on Sunday called its temporary ban from the Android app store ‘arm-twisting’ by the global search major.

Stating its side of the story, Paytm said Google didn’t give it an opportunity to explain its new cashback sticker feature. The ban amounting to Google insinuating Paytm to be a gambling app is defamatory in nature, the Noida-based firm said in the blog.

“This (removing Indian apps temporarily from the Play Store) will be familiar to all Indian internet companies since they face similar arm-twisting and fear of Google’s dominance over India’s digital ecosystem every day,” Paytm said in its blog on Sunday evening.