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https://fosdem.org/2021/about/sponsors/#google

Uh oh

The irony is high

It's almost as if Google is not one person but consists of many people with different opinions/interests

It's almost as if these people didn't coordinate at all in spite of operating as part of the same corporation, enjoying protections such as limited liability. Google is not a subreddit.

This is far from ideal, but someone attending FOSDEM is surely able to download an .apk from official site of Element and install it?

Or from F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/im.vector.app/

People always mention a workaround when this kind of stuff happens, but censorship can be heavily effective just by reducing access.

If a medium sized business is looking at communication platforms, and element is suddenly not available on the play store, maybe they’ll just Google’s offering instead.

While I agree in general, if you are going to fosdem, you are part of a self-selected group that will jump this hurdle without second thought.

And Google is a sponsor.