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This is a great explanation for whats occurring. I'll be interested to see what comes of all of this.

So far what I guess is:

- This is likely a government action via telco and not something done via Google* (*Unless they've opted into a program like the one you stated)

- These phones being affected COULD BE all Carrier Locked phones which have specific terms to allow such behavior.

To me, this is pretty clear cut violation of Google's Device update policy and could be considered Malware or stalkerware (by their definition): https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

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I think we should all slow down on putting Google for full blame here and focus on Government abuse and overstep of powers.