Google is betting on AI in the fight against malware. Tens of thousands of developer accounts were banned in 2025
Google Play (photo Yuen Man Cheung / Alamy / Profimedia)
Google says that thanks to new AI systems, the Play app store is being targeted by fewer malicious cyber “actors”. Google publishes an annual report detailing the rejected “malware” applications and the various emerging cyber threats.
“We've integrated Google's latest generative AI models into our review process, helping our human review team more quickly identify complex patterns of malicious behavior,” Google says.
In its latest report on the safety of the Android app ecosystem, the company announced that it prevented the publication of 1.75 million apps that violated Google Play policies last year, down from 2.36 million in 2024 and 2.28 million in 2023, writes TechCrunch.
Google noted that investments in AI and other “real-time” defense mechanisms helped combat these threats, but also had a deterrent effect on “malicious” actors.
Google reviews and monitors apps to prevent malware, financial fraud, privacy violations, subscriptions with hidden options, and other threats.
“Initiatives like developer verification, mandatory pre-publishing checks, and testing requirements have raised the standards of the Google Play ecosystem, significantly reducing the pathways through which malicious actors can enter,” Google says.
The company adds that its “multi-layered, AI-based” protections have “deterred malicious actors from publishing malicious apps.”
For example, Google also says it banned more than 80,000 accounts of developers who tried to publish dangerous apps in 2025, a sharp decrease from previous years.
