Google has banned a location data platform SafeGraph from its Play Store that allegedly sold Android smartphone users location data for Covid mapping and other purposes. According to a report in Motherboard, SafeGraph whose investors include a former head of Saudi intelligence, was one of several companies that collected geolocation records through plug-ins in other Android apps.

"SafeGraph markets its data to government entities and a wide range of industries, but it also sells the data on the open market to essentially anyone," the report said on Thursday. "The ban means that any apps working with SafeGraph had to remove the offending location gathering code from their apps," it added. SafeGraph was yet to respond to the ban from the Google Play Store.