Reports concerning Google to Ban Huawei’s access to Android Operating system shook the industry. The news received much of the attention as Android users began to look for answers concerned about the security of their devices if Huawei will not be granted access to the latest Android updates.

The news about the ban came out with the following statement from Google, “Our Google Play developer policies strictly prohibit malicious and deceptive behavior, as well as disruptive ads. When violations are found, we take action.”- A Google spokesperson stated to Buzzfeed.

The decision seemed to comply with the Executive Order issued by Donald Trump for the national security against foreign adversaries. As per the restrictions placed on all the local companies to banned foreign trade, Google cut off the access for Google Play Store along with Google Play Protect that exist on any Huawei device. 

Google Play Store is the hub of apps for Android users and the Google Play Protect is the antivirus software that ensures the device security and keeps the data encrypted. These are the two most significant features of Android and if they get restricted, users might face trouble sharing the data or information using their Huawei devices.

After Google’s new policy was revealed, it was made clear that devices outside China will not have access to popular services and applications that will include Google Play, Gmail Apps, and Maps. In addition, access to the Android operation system version, which is available through the open-source license, shall be granted to Huawei. Moreover, Google will not facilitate any technical support to the company.

Huawei Responded With An Even More Surprising News

Soon after getting banned, Huawei- the key global partners of Android, claimed that “Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world.” “We have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry.”

They stated to defend their legitimate rights legally. However, the loss of getting restricted by Google with its access to such secured application could not be accepted so lightly. As the coming out of Trump’s order was titles as “US- China Trade War“, it fumed anger among the Chinese users, who came up as a countermeasure boycotting Apple products. China is the third-largest marketplace of Apple’s products and boycotting the products could cost a fortune to the American company.

It was unbelievably shocking for Android to get cut off from such a premium operating system, but the company didn’t fall back and came up with a bigger plan. According to sources, Huawei has claimed to build a custom operating system for the millions of its smartphone users, very quickly.

With the coming out of such a bold statement from Huawei, Google; however, seemed to get flushed with anticipation about the consequences of the executive order. 

As per the Bloomberg report, Huawei “has not negotiated directly with the US government and is waiting to see how Google talks evolve”. This brings Google into the limelight. But why is Google so concerned with the restrictions?

Why Google Is Emphasizing To Take Back the Order

As per the Financial Times, Google is pushing the government to take back the order and sustain the accessibility to the operations and applications. The basis of the arguments is based on the prediction that if the company would not be allowed to access, it will fork Android making a “hybrid version”. It has been stated that these hybrid versions would be, “more at risk of being hacked, not least by China”.

To some Google claiming the forked versions to be of a great threat to the US national security may seem to be hypothetical. But as per the Financial Times,‘ it’s right to predict such consequences due to many reasons. 

Firstly, the Huawei’s Fork Android version will not have Google’s services so the most important feature of security- Google Play Protect will get left out. Now if any user from the US shares sensitive information with other devices, which might have the forked version, there will be more chances of getting the data hacked or leaked. In addition, the devices will become prone to transmitting viruses and malfunctions with each other due to the absence of encryption. 

Secondly, Huawei being the largest manufacturer and retailer will sell devices globally and each one of them will be unprotected. 

Therefore, if one looks at the things from a broader and practical perspective then by following the Executive Order, would clearly observe that the US national security will be in more danger.

The Back Story- Trump and His Executive Order 

The Executive Order issued by Donald Trump, US president, called out for a “national economic emergency“. It allows the government to restrict “foreign adversaries” with access to certain technology and services for being deemed to cause a threat to US national security. 

Though the order didn’t reveal any particular name of the brand or company, it was enforced for every foreign trader which included Huawei as well. The order invoked the International Emergency Economic power Acts giving the authority to work on drawing a plan for the enforcement. The commerce department later added that it would like to add Huawei in the list of 70 other affiliates that are going to get banned. 

As all the actions and regulations were directed for the concerned of national security, a Chinese spokesperson from the ministry- Gao Feng reported saying, “China has emphasized many times that the concept of national security should not be abused and that it should not be used as a tool for trade protectionism”.

In distressed about the entire situation, they further demanded the US to stop oppressing particularly the Chinese companies in the pretext of national security calling out for a “non-discriminatory policy”.

Instead of putting off the fire caused by the banning of companies, the US government had stirred buzz after taking another step following the same agenda. Labelling Huawei as a threat to national security, they lobbied the allies to avoid using Huawei network equipment for the UK’s 5G networks core.

With the order coming out, many highly advanced projects now seemed to have experienced a halt. Huawei was working on “Google Assistant Smart Speaker” before the drastic policies surfaced. Though the innovation was expected to be a great move in the technological landscape the government seemed to pay no attention and disarrayed the partnership between Google and Huawei.

Apart from this, Trump also introduced policies concerning the Chinese goods trading. About the export restriction, Eurasia Group analysts stated, “a grave escalation with China that, at minimum, plunges the prospect of continued trade negotiations into doubt”. They further added, “Unless handled carefully, this situation is likely to place US and Chinese companies at new risk.”

Is that what’s happening is fair? The big question remained unanswered. As Huawei claimed itself to be an independent company shows no collaboration with the state of China, puts light to it being wrongly accused of being a threat. 

On one hand, the company has repeatedly denied every accusation while on the other hand so many entities surfaced that supported the US allegations.