What is deemed appropriate for children differs worldwide, and new restrictions coming to the Google Play Store may mean that some apps made for kids aren't available in all regions. An update for Android app developers may mean they need to remove their apps from sale in certain regions if their content is deemed inappropriate.
This comes as part of the Developer Program Policy update for April 2022. Google's announcement post reads, "Your app's content that is accessible to children must be appropriate for children. If your app contains content that is not globally appropriate, but that content is deemed appropriate for child users in a particular region, the app may be available in that region but will remain unavailable in other regions."
What makes an app inappropriate isn't made clear by this announcement, but it seems Google will have different rules depending on the region itself. That makes it challenging to know exactly how Google will use this, and only time will tell until we see specific use cases.
Each region differs significantly when it comes to age restrictions, though. For example, Telegram on the Play Store in Germany comes with an age rating of 18+ while in the UK, it comes with a parental guidance disclaimer without any firm rules. While this isn't an app designed specifically for kids, it could be helpful for some children but is deemed inappropriate, depending on the region.
App developers will need to follow these new rules by May 11, 2022 (a grace period of 30 days) or risk having their app removed from the Play Store.