On Wednesday, August 9, Google told the Delhi High Court that it cannot simply dilute the warning/disclaimer or make changes in it when users download the WinZO APK file using its search engine.

This comes in response to Justices Manmohan and Saurabh Banerjee of the Delhi HC, asking Google in March to consider issuing a softer warning for the WinZO app by April 26. Justice Manmohan, during the hearing yesterday, said that Google is not controlling the internet. “Show us the guidelines that it is binding you to display such warnings,” he said, giving Google three week’s time to respond to it.

Google claimed that it is displaying such warning in line with the Information Technology Rules, 2021. The matter is listed for further hearing on October 19 now, as reported by The Economic Times.

Google claims that there are several applications which contain malware and viruses that may harm the users’ device. Due to this, the warning is required to be displayed to ensure users are safe.

As of now, all the APK files downloaded from the web are marked as “this file may harm your device. Do you want to keep (File Name) anyway?” This goes for all the other files in other web browsers as well and is considered a normal practice to protect users.

Along with the warning, Android devices, in general, have the option to turn off installation of external apps by default. A person would need to navigate to the settings and enable it.

The problem arises as most of the users of WinZO are from tier-2 and tier-3 cities where there is lack of awareness of such features, and so they might take the warning literally.

WinZO had previously challenged Google’s download warning claiming that it gives a negative connotation about the app and amounts to trademark infringement which the Delhi HC rejected.