- Updated: February 24, 2026
- 1 min read
Open Letter to Google: Civil Society Demands Reversal of Mandatory Android Developer Registration
On February 24, 2026 a coalition of civil‑society groups and technology organisations published an open letter addressed to Google executives and regulators, urging the company to abandon its proposed mandatory developer registration for Android apps distributed outside the Google Play Store.
The signatories argue that the policy would create unnecessary gate‑keeping, raise barriers to entry for independent developers, compromise user privacy, enable arbitrary enforcement, and risk anticompetitive outcomes. They stress that existing Android security mechanisms already protect users and that the new registration would undermine the openness that has driven Android’s success.
Key concerns highlighted in the letter include:
- Gate‑keeping and reduced innovation.
- Increased costs and hurdles for small developers.
- Potential for expanded surveillance and data collection.
- Lack of clear, transparent enforcement criteria.
- Negative impact on competition and market dynamics.
- Heightened regulatory scrutiny.
The coalition calls on Google to rescind the policy, engage in dialogue with the community, and preserve the open nature of Android. The full letter can be read here.
Read more about related topics on ubos.tech: Android Open Source, Google Policy Updates.
Andrii Bidochko
CTO UBOS
Andrii Bidochko is an AI entrepreneur and researcher focused on AI agents, reinforcement learning, and autonomous systems. He writes about the technologies shaping the future of machine intelligence, from frontier models and agent architectures to real-world AI applications.