To date only two non-Google apps ever succeeded in garnering over five billion downloads on the Google Play Store. Facebook Messenger this week achieved the milestone, taking the count of apps in the five billion downloads club to three. Including the Google apps, this is the fourteenth app to hit the five billion download mark, including other apps like YouTube, Google Maps and Gmail.
Interestingly, apart from Google apps, only Facebook apps have managed to cross the five billion downloads. The first app to cross the milestone was the Facebook app in 2019, followed by WhatsApp in early 2020.
The updated “Install counter” on the Google Play Store was first spotted by Android Police. Now only one major Facebook app, Instagram, remains to cross the milestone.
Take note that this install counter also includes the preloaded apps numbers. Some of the Facebook apps including Messenger come preloaded on some Android devices by default. However, this does not include the number of downloads users make through third-party app stores or via APK files.
In other news, Facebook is largely “unclear” and “inconsistent” about its internal content banning rules, according to Michael McConnell, the co-chairman of Facebook’s Oversight Board. During an interview with Fox News, McConnell highlighted the issues that the company faces with reference to the ban imposed on former US President Donald Trump.
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To recall, the ban was imposed in the aftermath of the incendiary remarks made by Donald Trump ahead of now-president Joe Biden being elected, which led to the United States Capitol riot.
McConnell during the interview stated, “Their rules are a shambles. They are not transparent. They are unclear. They are internally inconsistent.” “We gave them a series of recommendations about how to make their rules clearer and more consistent. The hope is that they will use the next few months to do that and then, when they come back and look at this, they will be able to apply those rules in a straightforward way,” he added.